# Rubio says Trump’s ‘51st state’ plan not on G7 summit agenda in Canada

Secretary of state’s visit has backdrop of trade war between US and allies and Trump’s threats to take over Canada

 has said he is not planning to discuss ’s threat to “take over ” during a visit to , as Washington’s top diplomat arrives to the backdrop of a raging diplomatic crisis and trade war.

The US secretary of state arrived on Wednesday for a two-day summit with other foreign ministers from allied  countries at the river resort of La Malbaie, the first such gathering since Trump retook power with his “America first” agenda.

When asked en route by reporters about Trump’s repeated comments , Rubio said Washington was working on a number of issues, including defence and Ukraine.

“We’re going to be focused in G7 on all of those things. That’s what the meeting is about,” he said. “It is not a meeting about how we’re going to take over .”



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Donald Trump again suggests Canada should become 'cherished 51st state' of US – video

The , which includes France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK, was set up to coordinate responses from powerful democracies on global issues. On the official agenda was Ukraine, Sudan and the Middle East, as well as the Indo-Pacific region, where China has been vying for influence.

Rubio will be arriving in a country that has united around opposition to Trump and his hyper-nationalist US ideology. At recent hockey matches with US teams, the US national anthem has been booed, while US-made bourbon whiskeys are being removed from shop shelves.

The outgoing prime minister, Justin Trudeau, whom Trump has mocked as a “governor”, has  and gone on the offensive with a “” approach to the southern threat.

The US state department has said that the secretary of state is heading to the G7 meeting to “advance President Trump’s ‘America first’ foreign policy agenda”. Trump, meanwhile, repeated on Tuesday his desire to annex Canada. “The only thing that makes sense is for Canada to become our cherished Fifty First State,” he wrote online.

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