MxM News

Quick Hit:

President Trump has upped the cost for Canada to join the U.S. “Golden Dome” missile defense program to $71 billion—$10 billion more than his previous ask.

Key Details:

• Trump confirmed the new $71 billion figure while speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One.
• Canada has pushed back, with PM Mark Carney and diplomats calling Trump’s offer a “protection racket.”
• Trump said Canada could access the system for free if it became the 51st U.S. state.

Diving Deeper:

President Trump has put a new and steeper price on Canada’s potential entry into America’s “Golden Dome” missile defense program. Speaking from Air Force One on Monday, Trump told reporters, “They want to be in… Seventy-one billion they’re going to pay.”

That’s a $10 billion increase from the $61 billion figure Trump had previously floated, marking a sharp escalation in his negotiations with Ottawa. The Golden Dome, described by the administration as a “state-of-the-art” defense shield, aims to protect North America from a new era of missile threats—particularly those posed by China, Russia, and North Korea.

Trump has framed the Golden Dome as the long-awaited realization of Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” vision, using space-based sensors and interceptors to strike down incoming ballistic, cruise, or hypersonic missiles. Development timelines suggest full deployment is still 5–7 years off, but an initial $25 billion is already allocated in next year’s defense budget. The entire project may run upwards of $175 billion, with some estimates as high as $542 billion over 20 years.

Canada, which has long partnered with the U.S. under NORAD to detect airborne threats, has expressed interest in joining the project. But Trump is demanding a separate, costly buy-in. He reiterated that Ottawa would “have to pay a lot of money” to participate unless it pursued a full political union with the U.S. “It would be free if Canada became the 51st state,” he added.

Canadian leaders have pushed back hard. Prime Minister Mark Carney, re-elected in April after campaigning against U.S. interference, said Canada wants to protect its citizens but not under terms dictated from Washington. Ambassador to the U.N. Bob Rae went further, calling Trump’s offer a “protection racket.”

From LifeSiteNews

By Dave DeCamp

When asked about Tulsi Gabbard’s assessment, President Trump said, ‘I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having [a nuclear weapon].’

Ahead of Israel’s attacks on Iran, U.S. intelligence assessed that Iran was not pursuing nuclear weapons and that even if it chose to do so, it would take up to three years for Tehran to be able to produce and deliver a nuclear bomb against a target of its choosing, CNN reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the intelligence.

The U.S. assessment goes against the claims from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who launched the war under the pretext of preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. But President Trump appears to be taking Israel’s word over his own intelligence agencies, as he told reporters that he didn’t care about his director of national intelligence’s assessment on the issue.

In March, DNI Tulsi Gabbard said that “Iran is not building a nuclear weapon and Supreme Leader Khamenei has not authorized the nuclear weapons program he suspended in 2003.” Her assessment was reflected in the Intelligence Community’s annual threat assessment.

When asked about this assessment, President Trump said, “I don’t care what she said. I think they’re very close to having [a nuclear weapon].”

Netanyahu claimed in an interview on Sunday that he shared intelligence with the U.S. that Iran could have developed a nuclear weapon within months or a year, although that was not the conclusion of U.S. intelligence agencies, based on the CNN report. But even based on Netanyahu’s own timeline, the U.S. would have had time to continue negotiations with Iran.

Israel attacked Iran two days before another round of negotiations between the U.S. and Iran was set to be held. Trump had been demanding that Iran eliminate its nuclear enrichment program, which was a non-starter for Tehran. Despite the apparent impasse, Iran was set to present a counter-proposal to the U.S., but the talks were canceled after Israel launched its war.

Reprinted with permission from Antiwar.com.