https://link.foreignpolicy.com/view/644279f41a7f1f1e29de6831mkpwu.8ow/25c481fa
Prime Minister or Governor?
Then-U.S. President Donald Trump listens to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting at Winfield House in London on Dec. 3, 2019.Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump appears interested in adding a 51st star to the American flag. In a statement that some analysts warn could be serious and others have brushed off as trolling, Trump once again suggested on Wednesday that Canada should become a U.S. state. “No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year?” Trump wrote on Truth Social, adding, “I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!”
The United States and Canada have the longest undefended border in the world. But in recent weeks, Trump has become critical of Canadian border security. Last month, he threatened to impose sweeping 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods during his first day in office if Ottawa does not curb the flow of undocumented migrants and illegal drugs into the United States.
“The revolutionary nature of these threats is hard to overstate, even by Trump’s own audacious standards,” FP columnist Edward Alden argued, pointing to tariffs that Trump has also floated against Mexico and China.
Trump’s tariff warning pushed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to make a surprise trip to the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida in November, during which Trump made the 51st state joke directly to Trudeau and other officials over dinner. A Canadian minister in attendance later told reporters that he believed Trump’s comments were meant in jest.
“The president was telling jokes. The president was teasing us. It was, of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment,” then-Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said. Days later, Trump referred to Trudeau as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada” in a post on Truth Social.
Trump repeated that mocking title on Monday, when he celebrated the unexpected departure of Canadian Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, who resigned due to ongoing disputes with Trudeau over how to address U.S. tariff threats. Freeland has accused Trudeau of engaging in “costly political gimmicks” instead of countering Trump’s warnings, and many of her allies have since called for Trudeau to step down.
Trump’s 25 percent tariff plan would be a “disaster” that would hurt both the Canadian and U.S. economies, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said. He has compared Trump’s threat to “a family member stabbing you right in the heart” and has vowed to send hundreds of police officers to the border if Trump’s mass deportation plan forces migrants living in the United States to flee north.
Alberta Premier Danielle Smith reiterated Ford’s concerns this week. In response to Trump’s latest Canadian statehood post, Smith argued that the reason for Ottawa’s trade deficit with the United States is because Canada sends billions of dollars in raw materials to the United States, generating enormous wealth for Washington and creating millions of U.S. jobs. Around 60 percent of U.S. crude oil imports and roughly 85 percent of U.S. electricity imports come from Canada. Alberta alone sends 4.3 million barrels of oil and gas to the United States each day.
According to polling from market research company Leger, just 13 percent of Canadians surveyed wished to join the United States, as opposed to 82 percent of people who said they were against the idea.
Whether or not Trump’s statements are genuine, Ottawa is not taking any chances. Following Freeland’s surprise departure on Monday, LeBlanc—newly named finance minister—announced a $900 million plan to implement new border security measures to appease Trump’s concerns. With the creation of a “joint strike force,” the development of new detection tools at high-risk ports of entry, and an increase in funding for dog-sniffing teams, the plan aims to disrupt fentanyl trade, limit border traffic, and improve coordination and information-sharing with U.S. and local law enforcement.