On the 6th of January, Justin Trudeau resigned from his position as the Prime Minister of Canada and the leader of the ruling Liberal Party. Following his resignation, Donald Trump has accelerated his ambitions of turning Canada into the 51st American state which he has been emphasising for several weeks now.
The US President elect, Trump has once again come out with his expansionist agenda which he has been promoting ever since he secured a landslide victory in November 2024. With just weeks into his return to the White House, Donald Trump during a press conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida threatened the use of “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state of the United States.
Donald Trump had a recent meeting with Justin Trudeau who recently resigned following which Trump came up with a blunt stand regarding his political motive. However, Trump’s assertion is not at all shocking given the hints, he has been consistently dropping regarding his aspirations for months.
But on Tuesday, 7th of January Donald Trump made his position, aspiration and approach, crystal clear, stating that he would use “economic force” rather than military action to bring about the annexation of Canada to the United States, thus removing Canada as a nation from the face of the Earth. Incidentally, through his Truth Social account, Trump has posted a fabricated and expanionist map of the United States in which he has shown Canadian territory as part of US, directly alluding to his ambitions.
Responding to media query whether he will use military force to capture Canada, Trump replied saying, “No, economic force. Because Canada and the US, that would really be something.”
He criticized the US-Canada border as an “artificially drawn line” and claimed its removal would improve national security. Trump also lambasted American spending on Canadian goods and military support, asserting that the US gains no benefits from its northern neighbour.
Trump’s expansionist rhetoric extends to trade policies. In November 2024, he proposed a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods unless both nations addressed issues like migrant flow and drug trafficking. During the press conference, he reiterated his frustrations with the financial burden of protecting Canada, saying, “We’re spending hundreds of billions a year to protect it.”
Response in Canada
Unsurprisingly, Trump’s comments have been met with opposition in Canada. Justin Trudeau rejected the proposal of Donald Trump. He took to twitter to write, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”
Pierre Marcel Poilievre, the leader of opposition from the Conservative Party too dismissed the idea of Trump and did not seem much happy with him. He stated that Canada will never become the 51st American State.
Pierre Marcel Poilievre wrote, “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period. We are a great and independent country. We are the best friend to the U.S. We spent billions of dollars and hundreds of lives helping Americans retaliate against Al-Qaeda’s 9/11 attacks. We supply the U.S. with billions of dollars of high-quality and totally reliable energy well below market prices. We buy hundreds of billions of dollars of American goods.”
“Our weak and pathetic NDP-Liberal government has failed to make these obvious points. I will fight for Canada. When I am Prime Minister, we will rebuild our military and take back control of the border to secure both Canada and the U.S. We will take back control of our Arctic to keep Russia and China out. We will axe taxes, slash red tape and rapidly green-light massive resource projects to bring home paycheques and production to our country. In other words, we will put Canada First.” Poilievre said.
However these statements have hardly made an impact on Donald Trump, who instead shared a map on social media which depicted Canada as part of the United States. This has escalated tensions further, with Canadians rallying around their leaders to denounce the President-elect’s rhetoric.
Trump has been reiterating Justin Trudeau as a Governor of the state of Canada for quite some time now. In December, during a dinner meeting at Mar-a-Lago, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President-elect Donald Trump discussed Trump’s warning to impose a 25% tariff on Canada if it failed to address the flow of illegal immigrants and illicit drugs into the United States. Reportedly, Trump also proposed making Canada the 51st state of the United States during the conversation.
Posting regarding the meeting, Trump through a post on Truth Social mocked the former Canadian Prime Minister by referring to him as a governor of Canada. He wrote, “It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada.”
Following the resignation of Canadian Finance Minister and Deputy PM Chrystia Freeland, President-elect Donald Trump again took to Truth Social to refer to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the “Governor of Canada.” He wrote, “The Great State of Canada is stunned as the Finance Minister resigns, or was fired, from her position by Governor Justin Trudeau. Her behavior was totally toxic, and not at all conducive to making deals which are good for the very unhappy citizens of Canada. She will not be missed!!!”
Moreover, after Justin Trudeau stepped down from the Prime Minister post of Canada. Trump took to twitter to highlight that if Canada becomes a part of the United States, then there will be no tariffs imposed and will be free from any threats from Russian or Chinese interference.
Trump posted, “Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State. The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned. If Canada merged with the U.S., there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”
While Trump claims that the annexation would strengthen both nations, Canadians view the proposal as an affront to their sovereignty. As the President-elect prepares to take office, his remarks have strained relations with a country that has long been one of America’s closest allies.
A heated exchange can be witnessed to have erupted on social media between Canadians and Americans over the notion of making Canada the 51st American state. Individuals from both sides have engaged in a flurry of sarcastic remarks and pointed jabs at one another.
Matt Walsh, an American conservative political commentator humorously took a dig at Canadians suggesting that Canadians are ungrateful and refuse to acknowledge Americans for allegedly building labour camps for them.
“Canadians are complaining about our plans to conquer them and yet they haven’t even seen the labor camps we’ve built for them. Really spacious. Very comfortable by labor camp standards. And yet they still whine. Ungrateful brats.” he pointed out.
Billionaire and co-founder of Tesla Elon Musk went up to take a dig at Justin Trudeau after he refused Donald Trump’s proposal. Replying to Justin Trudeau, Musk wrote, “Girl, you’re not the governor of Canada anymore, so doesn’t matter what you say.”
The Canadian Government under the leadership of Justin Trudeau has repeatedly drawn swords against the Republicans especially Donald Trump while in their attempt to draw favour with the Chinese Trudeau and co have also made an active adversary out of the Indian government just to pander to some extremist Kahalistani vote banks.
Now Donald Trump is eyeing Canada, looking to annex it. From politicking to actually facing a threat to its sovereignty, Trump and co are making the ultimate mockery out of the so-called concern of Canadian politicians. Now the future of Canada is up in the air, Trudeau has resigned, and no other leader seems too keen to face Donald Trump. If Trump goes through with his tariffs and economic pressures it will become extremely tough for any Canadian leader be it Trudeau, Freeland or Poilievre to handle the impending repercussions.
