Canada has quietly drawn up an ‘insurgency-style’ response, including ‘hit-and-run’ ambushes, to fight back against US forces in the event of an invasion.
The Canadian military has developed a model response to an American takeover, after the US president resumed musing online about gaining control of his northern neighbour, the Globe and Mail revealed on Tuesday.
Citing two unnamed senior government officials, the newspaper said the response would rely on insurgency-style warfare – echoing the tactics used by fighters in Afghanistan who resisted Soviet and later US forces.
Despite the extraordinary planning, the officials stressed they believe it is unlikely Trump would actually order an invasion of Canada.
Following his 2024 election victory and in the early months of his new term, Trump repeatedly referred to Canada as the United States’ 51st state, claiming a merger would benefit Canadians.
Although his annexation rhetoric has cooled in recent months, concerns were reignited overnight when Trump shared an image on his social media platform showing a map of Canada and Venezuela draped in the US flag.
This was a move widely interpreted as implying a full American takeover of both countries.
According to the officials, if an invasion were to occur, US forces could overwhelm Canadian positions on land and at sea in as little as two days.
US President Donald Trump trolled European leaders with an AI image of them looking at a map showing Greenland and Canada as US territory
Following his 2024 election victory and in the early months of his new term, Trump repeatedly referred to Canada as the United States’ 51st state, claiming a merger would benefit Canadians
The revelations come as Trump and the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney (pictured) both attend the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week
With Canada lacking the military resources to withstand a direct assault from its powerful neighbour, any resistance would take the form of a prolonged insurgency, involving ambushes and ‘hit-and-run tactics,’ the report said.
The Globe was careful to note that the model being developed ‘was a conceptual and theoretical framework, not a military plan, which is an actionable and step-by-step directive for executing operations.’
The paper added that defence planners believe there would be unmistakable warning signs if the US were preparing to invade, including a decision by Washington to end bilateral cooperation under NORAD, the North American Aerospace Defence Command.
In such a scenario, Canada would likely appeal to Britain and France for assistance, the report said.
The revelations come as Trump and the Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney both attend the World Economic Forum in the Swiss ski resort of Davos this week.
This year’s gathering of global political and financial elites has already been overshadowed by Trump’s threats to seize Greenland – a move that has strained NATO, the transatlantic military alliance of which Canada is a member.
Trump’s demand for US control of the Danish territory has tested alliance unity, with Carney reportedly considering sending a small contingent of Canadian troops to Greenland, following other NATO allies, as a symbolic show of support for the island.
It comes as European leaders have expressed their objection to the US President’s demands to take control of Greenland, prompting Trump to threaten the nations with new tariffs if they stand in his way.
Amid an increasingly acrimonious trans-Atlantic row, the President announced on his Truth Social platform over the weekend that from February 1, the US would impose a 10 per cent tariff on all exports from Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and the UK – increasing it to 25 per cent in June.
The EU is now weighing up whether to deploy its so-called trade ‘bazooka’ for the first time in retaliation, an economic tool that would hit the US with £81 billion in tariffs.
‘I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark,’ the official wrote to the US President
‘Europe won’t be blackmailed,’ Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in response to Trump’s tariff threats, after EU leaders signed a joint statement warning of a ‘dangerous downward spiral’ in the event of a trade war between the transatlantic allies.
The US President also posted a text exchange he shared with the Secretary General of Nato, Mark Rutte, during which the official wrote: ‘I am committed to finding a way forward on Greenland. Can’t wait to see you. Yours, Mark.’
Trump is expected to arrive on Wednesday in Davos, where he is due to deliver a special address at the World Economic Forum (WEF).
Business leaders, including CEOs in financial services, crypto, and consulting, were invited to a reception after Trump’s address to the WEF’s annual meeting, sources told Reuters on Monday. The agenda was unclear.
One CEO simply had ‘a reception in honour of President Donald J Trump’ scheduled in their diary, while another said their understanding was that global CEOs had been invited, not just those from the United States. One of the sources said the invitations had come from the White House.
The WEF agenda has, to some extent, been overtaken by the US President’s dramatic policy moves, including his demand in recent days that the US take over Greenland.
Certain EU leaders have issued a strong response following Trump’s tariff threats to member states, while others have called for calm and diplomatic solutions to the potential trade row.
‘We will not allow ourselves to be blackmailed,’ said Lars Klingbeil, Germany’s vice chancellor, at a press conference in Berlin alongside French Economy Minister Roland Lescure.
‘Europe will respond with a united, clear response, and we are now preparing countermeasures together with our European partners.’
Meanwhile, Starmer said a trade war is in ‘no-one’s interest’ during a speech from Downing Street on Monday, adding that the use of tariffs against allies was ‘not the right way to resolve differences’.
