It’s Donald Trump’s new favourite line: The U.S. should annex Canada to erase the American trade deficit with its neighbour to the north.
There is no serious movement in either country for any such thing. The U.S. president-elect, however, has repeated variations of the joke at least a half-dozen times in two-and-a-half weeks. He has also taken to calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the “governor” of America’s putative “51st state.”
It is not entirely clear whether it is all meant merely as a negotiating tactic to keep Canada off-balance, indicates genuine irritation with an ally Mr. Trump has long accused of swindling the U.S. – or something else entirely.
But it shows a clear fixation by the president-elect on Canada – and particularly the trade deficit – with little more than a month to go before he returns to the White House.
Mr. Trump posted the latest version of the jab on social media at 3:23 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
“No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!”
The president-elect made the “51st state” comment to Mr. Trudeau’s face at their Mar-a-Lago dinner late last month. He has since repeated it multiple times on Truth Social and once in an NBC interview, in which he also talked about annexing Mexico.
Mr. Trump is threatening to impose tariffs of 25 per cent on all Canadian and Mexican goods when he takes office on Jan. 20, to remain in place until the countries stop migrants and fentanyl from crossing their borders into the U.S.
He has also, however, repeatedly brought up the trade deficit, which most economists dismiss as unimportant, but Mr. Trump appears to view as a scorecard for economic success. The figure is not a “subsidy” to Canada: It is caused by Canadian exports of crude oil to the U.S., which does not produce enough to meet its own demand.
Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trudeau, said Mr. Trump’s needling of Canada is a type of bullying technique that he has deployed time after time during his political career.
During the primaries in 2016, for instance, Mr. Trump derided Senator Marco Rubio as “Little Marco.” Now, he’s Mr. Trump’s nominee for secretary of state.
“He identifies points of sensitivity, and he goes after them. It’s the behaviour of the bully, and that’s the man that we’re going to have to deal with for the next four years,” said Prof. Paris, who is director of the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.
During his previous term, Mr. Trump reportedly mused about selling Puerto Rico and buying Greenland. Neither idea went anywhere.
Earlier this month, Gerald Butts, Mr. Trudeau’s former principal secretary, said Mr. Trump’s Canadian annexation joke is also not new.
“Trump used this 51st State line all the time with Trudeau in his first term. He’s doing it to rattle Canadian cages. When someone wants you to freak out, don’t,” he wrote on the Bluesky social network.
Mr. Trump accompanied his comment with more personal language after Chrystia Freeland resigned as deputy prime minister and finance minister. He vented frustrations over her negotiating tactics from the 2017 and 2018 talks that led to the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. “Her behavior was totally toxic,” he wrote. “She will not be missed!!!”
Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau similarly did not speak for weeks after a clash around a 2018 G7 summit in Quebec. Mr. Trump also repeatedly accused Canada of being “very rough” and of having “taken advantage” of the U.S. on trade.
Derek Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to the U.S. who helped negotiate the countries’ original free-trade agreement in the 1980s, said Mr. Trump is picking on Canada because of Mr. Trudeau’s weakness. The Prime Minister is facing low poll numbers, a caucus revolt and calls to resign or call a snap election.
“It’s very sad to me what Trump is doing but he’s a bully and when he sees he has got somebody who’s fragile – as our Prime Minister certainly seems to be today – he will work on it,” Mr. Burney said. “He has no allegiance to neighbourly relations.”
He said Canadian officials should dismiss the taunts but without making too big a deal of them. “Don’t react to the taunts. Call them out. Say they make no sense, that they’re illogical.”
He said Mr. Trudeau’s remarks last week that the Prime Minister was disappointed the United States elected another man as president instead of Democratic nominee Kamala Harris were thoughtless. “We can’t allow this president’s taunting of us to knock us off our game.”
On Wednesday, former Quebec premier Jean Charest said Mr. Trump’s jibes were a wake-up call and should be taken seriously.
“Every Canadian, regardless of their opinion of the Prime Minister or political affiliation, should feel deeply offended by President Trump’s remarks,” he tweeted.
Adrian Morrow, U.S. Correspondent
Steven Chase, Senior Parliamentary Reporter
The Globe and Mail, December 18, 2024
