Donald Trump, the president of the United States, claims that if Canada remains a distinct, but unequal, nation, it will have to pay $61 billion as part of his proposed Gold Dome missile defense system.
Trump claimed in a TruthSocial post that he “very much wants to be a part of our fabulous Golden Dome System” and that he would be able to access it for free if it joined the US.
Trump said, “They are considering the offer, and participating in the proposed defence system would cost Canada “ZERO DOLLARS” if they were to become our beloved 51st State.”
Trump’s appointment comes just hours after Canada’s parliament hosted King Charles III, the monarch’s lone royal prince, for a rare royal speech highlighting Canada’s sovereignty in “dangerous and uncertain” times and amid the president’s call for the nation to join the US.
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney stated on CBC that he hopes Canada will join ReArm Europe by July 1 in an effort to reduce its dependence on the US for weapons following the king’s speech.
Trump’s most recent comment was not immediately addressed by Canada, but Carney has already confirmed that his nation and the US have engaged in “high-level” discussions regarding the defense system.
Financing and a uncertain timeline
Trump has stated that the Golden Dome system will cost about $175 billion and be finished by the end of his current term in 2029, despite the objections of experts from the defense sector regarding the timeline and budget.
Trump hopes to pass the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which will be up for a vote in the Senate when it passes the Republican-controlled US House of Representatives last week, to secure an initial $25 billion in funding for the system.
The bill lowers funding for social programs like Medicaid and food assistance, which helped tens of millions of low-income Americans, while increasing spending on the military and border enforcement.
The Golden Dome is modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome, which also receives significant US funding, including $500,000 annually for its upkeep.
Given that Israel, one of the smaller states in the US, is only about the size of New Jersey, it is unclear how Trump plans to expand the Iron Dome to include the entire country.
The Iron Dome’s range of 1, 000 kilometers (roughly 620 miles) would likely be a result of long-range ballistic and hypersonic missiles, which is also intended to target short-range missiles.
The “space arms race” will be led by Golden Dome.
Trump’s space program, which the US president first detailed in detail last week, has received criticism from China, North Korea, and Russia.
The plan “highly increases the risk of space becoming a battlefield, fuels an arms race, and undermines international security,” according to spokeswoman Mao Ning of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
According to Mao Ning, “the United States places its own interests first and is obsessed with achieving its own unwavering security.” This is against the tenet that “no country’s security should come at the expense of others.”
The US is “hell-bent on the moves to militarise space,” according to the North Korean ministry of foreign affairs.
The creation of a global missile defense system is a violation of “strategic stability,” according to Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry on Tuesday.
Zakharova claimed that developing the Golden Dome would also lead to the development of “the means of pre-launch missile destruction and infrastructure that ensures their use,” according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Source: Aljazeera
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