{"id":471142,"date":"2025-10-03T13:08:20","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T13:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/471142\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T13:08:20","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T13:08:20","slug":"northerners-see-trumps-u-s-as-greater-threat-to-arctic-than-russia-poll-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/471142\/","title":{"rendered":"Northerners see Trump\u2019s U.S. as greater threat to Arctic than Russia: poll – National"},"content":{"rendered":"

Northern Canadians see U.S. President Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s America as a greater threat to Canada\u2019s Arctic security than Russia or China, as the region attracts greater attention from both polar and non-polar powers, according to recent polling.<\/p>\n

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The polling data comes as Canada\u2019s foreign affairs minister is being warned that current tensions with Russia and China\u2019s growing presence in the Far North is introducing a \u201chigh degree of uncertainty regarding the future of Arctic sovereignty.\u201d<\/p>\n

Polling released in September by L\u2019Observatoire de la politique et de la s\u00e9curit\u00e9 de l\u2019Arctique (OPSA), a Qu\u00e9bec-based research center, found that a full 37 per cent of Northerners felt the United States is the \u201cmost serious threat\u201d to Canada\u2019s North, followed by Moscow (35 per cent) and Beijing (17 per cent).<\/p>\n

\u201cTo see the U.S. as the number one threat, it\u2019s quite alarming, quite surprising,\u201d said Mathieu Landriault, OPSA\u2019s director.<\/p>\n

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Landriault said the sentiment is particularly strong among respondents in Yukon, who share a border with Alaska, and in Nunavut, whose northern neighbour, Greenland, is facing repeated threats from the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s that feeling that the U.S. now is a destabilizing force in the region, for sure,\u201d Landriault added.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s tariffs, executive orders and his repeated rhetoric around making Canada the 51st state \u2014which resurfaced this week in a rambling address to America\u2019s military brass \u2014 have \u201csignificantly shifted the security landscape in the North,\u201d OPSA noted in its findings.<\/p>\n

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While it was the first time OPSA polled Northerners on this question, the group noted their findings do not \u201cbode well\u201d for the future of Canada-U.S. cooperation in the North, given the administration \u201cis now seen as a credible threat to Canada on par with a traditional foe like Russia.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Speaking to an unprecedented gathering of U.S. military leaders on Tuesday, Trump said he continues to pitch Canadian officials on the prospect of becoming an American state.<\/p>\n

\u201cCanada called me a couple of weeks ago, they want to be part of (the \u201cGolden Dome\u201d missile defence program), to which I said, \u2018Well, why don\u2019t you just join our country? You become 51 \u2013 become the 51st state \u2014 and you get it for free,\u201d Trump said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don\u2019t know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense.\u201d<\/p>\n

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His comments about the annexation of Canada came just one week after his ambassador to the country, Pete Hoekstra, testily told a Calgary audience that \u201cif you wanted talk about the \u201851st state,\u2019 I\u2019m sorry, I don\u2019t have time to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Briefing materials prepared for Global Affairs Minister Anita Anand earlier this year make prominent mention of Arctic security. The documents note that while the region has been \u201ccooperatively managed\u201d by polar states \u201cto foster a low-tension region free from military competition,\u201d the situation in Canada\u2019s North is rapidly changing.<\/p>\n

Climate change, for instance, is opening up new potential transportation and shipping lanes, while competition for rare earth minerals has companies and governments looking north.<\/p>\n

\u201cInternational guardrails to prevent and resolve conflict have weakened and broader geopolitical considerations (e.g. Russia\u2019s war against Ukraine \u2026 (and) increasing challenges from non-Arctic states to Arctic state primacy in Arctic governance) have had spillover effects in the Arctic.\u201d<\/p>\n

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