Briefly

CANADA

'Buy Canadian' urged following tariff threat

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney called for "buy Canadian" and "build Canadian" on Saturday in response to a new tariff threat from United States President Donald Trump. "With our economy under threat from abroad, Canadians have made a choice: to focus on what we can control," Carney said in a video published on social media. Although he did not mention the US directly, he said: "We can't control what other nations do. We can be our own best customer. We'll buy Canadian. We'll build Canadian."Trump on Saturday threatened to slap a 100 percent tariff on Canadian goods coming into the US.

WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION

Washington's reasons for withdrawal 'untrue'

The head of the World Health Organization on Saturday pushed back against the United States' stated reasons for withdrawing from the agency, dismissing US criticism of the WHO as "untrue". Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus warned that the US announcement last week that it had formally withdrawn from the WHO "makes both the US and the world less safe". In a statement on Thursday, Washington accused the WHO of numerous "failures during the COVID-19 pandemic" and of acting "repeatedly against the interests of the United States". In a post on X, Tedros said,"Unfortunately, the reasons cited for the US decision to withdraw from WHO are untrue." The agency has always engaged with the US and all member states with full respect for their sovereignty, he added.

UNITED STATES

Trump hails UK troops after condemnation

US President Donald Trump on Saturday appeared to be partially walking back remarks on the role of non-US NATO troops in Afghanistan amid growing outrage from European allies. However, his claim in a Fox News interview that NATO sent "some troops" but "stayed a little back, a little off the front lines" brought fresh condemnation on Saturday. He offered an olive branch to Britain after Prime Minister Keir Starmer condemned his remarks as "appalling". Trump said on his Truth Social platform that the "great and very brave soldiers of the United Kingdom will always be with the United States of America". For other European leaders, Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni expressed her government's astonishment at Trump's comments. The office of French President Emmanuel Macron said on Saturday, "These unacceptable comments are not worthy of response."

Agencies - Xinhua