French President Emmanuel Macron, Prime Minister Mark Carney, U.S. President Donald Trump, Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz during the G7 Summit, in Kananaskis, Alta.Suzanne Plunkett/The Associated Press
Canada and its allies must send a strong signal to the United States from a Paris summit on Ukraine this week that they do not support President Donald Trump’s flouting of international law through a military strike on Venezuela that seized its leader, foreign policy experts say.
French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday is gathering leaders of European countries as well as Britain and Canada in Paris, where allies are expected to make firm commitments on protecting Ukraine once a peace deal with Russia is achieved. Western countries have repeatedly described Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine as illegal under international law – the same charges being levied against Mr. Trump after he attacked Venezuela and ousted President Nicolás Maduro.
“It’s in their interest to send a firm message to Washington, because otherwise it undermines the whole Ukraine strategy and the principles of defending Ukrainian sovereignty,” Fen Hampson, chancellor’s professor and professor of international affairs at Carleton University, said of Europe, Britain and Canada.
“If we’re seen as condoning this, it’s giving a hunting licence to Putin and quite frankly Xi when it comes to Taiwan,” he said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has not ruled out using force to annex self-ruled Taiwan.
“It is not in our interest to revert to the law of the jungle, and it is not in the interests of the other countries that are meeting in Paris to revert to the law of the jungle. It’s time to send a message to Washington: We don’t like this.”
Carney hails ouster of Maduro in Venezuela but calls for respect for international law
Paris will be a chance for Canada and European allies to send a message to the Americans that this has to stop, said Roland Paris, a professor of international affairs and the director of the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs at the University of Ottawa.
Both Canada and European Union officials on Saturday offered carefully worded responses to Mr. Trump’s actions that fell short of condemning the military strike. Prof. Paris, who served as foreign policy adviser to then-prime minister Justin Trudeau, said these statements reflected “the weakness of their positions right now and the priority they’re placing on not undermining their own economic prospects with the Trump administration.”
He said the Paris summit offers a way for allies to speak as a group because “there’s safety in numbers” and to defend “fundamental principles such as sovereignty, international law and the non-use of force, unless there’s a credible reason, including self-defence, to intervene militarily in another country’s affairs.”
The Sunday Editorial: Venezuela’s fate is a warning for Canada
Prime Minister Mark Carney, in a Saturday statement, lauded what he called an opportunity for change in Venezuela. “Canada has not recognized the illegitimate regime of Maduro since it stole the 2018 election. The Canadian government therefore welcomes the opportunity for freedom, democracy, peace and prosperity for the Venezuelan people.”
“In keeping with our long-standing commitment to upholding the rule of law, sovereignty and human rights, Canada calls on all parties to respect international law,” Mr. Carney said in a posting on X.
“We stand by the Venezuelan people’s sovereign right to decide and build their own future in a peaceful and democratic society,” he said.
Mr. Trump, who did not seek congressional or international support for his strike on Venezuela, said the country under Mr. Maduro had been “hosting foreign adversaries in our region and acquiring menacing offensive weapons,” in violation of the Monroe Doctrine, a 19th-century U.S. foreign policy asserting American dominance in the Western Hemisphere – which Mr. Trump rebranded as the “Donroe Doctrine.”
The U.S. President issued sharp warnings on Saturday about both Cuba and Mexico, with threats of further intervention.
On Saturday, Katie Miller, wife of White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, posted an image of the U.S. flag covering Greenland, an autonomous territory within the Kingdom of Denmark – reviving concerns over Mr. Trump’s repeated talk of annexing the Arctic island.
Prof. Hampson said Canada’s chief concern should be to avoid being drawn into any further American gunboat diplomacy, whether in Greenland, Mexico or elsewhere, including White House efforts to seek allied support.
“They may want to use Canada as a staging place for operations if they’re going in that direction,” he said of Greenland. He said the risk of refusing to support Trump foreign policy is that the White House could retaliate economically, as it did in 2025 with a raft of tariffs on Canadian products.
Venezuelans in Canada cheer Maduro’s toppling, worry about what comes next
Prof. Hampson said he did not see any risk of the United States invading Canada, and Prof. Paris said he’s more concerned about the chance that a group associated with Mr. Trump’s Make America Great Again political movement might try to interfere in Canadian politics.
Interim NDP leader Don Davies called Mr. Carney’s Saturday statement on U.S. action in Venezuela “mealy-mouthed” and a failure to stand up to Mr. Trump. “We either have respect for a rules-based system, or we don’t – it’s not contingent on your economic interests.”
Brian Clow, who served as deputy chief of staff to Mr. Trudeau, said Canada needs to stow criticism of the United States and focus on upcoming renegotiations of the trilateral United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA).
“Canada has wanted Maduro gone for years, so it’s good he’s gone. This isn’t how most in the Canadian government would have wanted him to depart, but there’s not much use hyperventilating about it or lecturing the United States.”
Canada should focus on working with the United States and other countries to help Venezuela “further turn the page on the Maduro regime, helping restore democracy and rebuilding their economy,” Mr. Clow said.
“Canada has one main goal with the United States in the coming year: It’s to navigate the USMCA review and resolve the current tariffs. We’ve got to keep our eye on that ball.”