Trudeau had been caught on a hot mic speaking to a group of Canadian lawmakers behind closed doors that the United States wants to absorb Canada, making it the 51st state, gaining access to the nation’s vast trove of minerals and other natural resources.

“I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have, but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau had said, as relayed to The New York Times.

Trump has been making comments since before his inauguration about potentially annexing the United States’ neighbor to the North and recently imposed a 25% tariff on Canadian goods coming into the country.

Waltz said that many Canadians “do not like the last 10 years of liberal, progressive governance in Trudeau” and described a “reassertion of American leadership” across the northern hemisphere.

“And that’s what we’re talking about, from Greenland, to Arctic security to the Panama Canal coming back under the United States,” he said. “America has avoided our own hemisphere — where we have the energy, the food and the critical minerals — for way too long, and you’re seeing a reassertion of President Trump’s leadership.”

Waltz also commented on Trump’s aggressive budget cuts and said there are more to come, and singled out the U.S. Defense Department.