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Donald Trump says many Canadians want to be part of the 51st state
Intriguingly, there has been no official Canadian retort to the repeated mocking by Donald Trump.
Donald Trump. / REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
What started as a joke on Nov.29 has now become a subject of serious and animated discussions in Canada. Is the US President-elect Donald Trump serious about making Canada the 51st state of the United States? Is the question being raised and discussed at social gatherings as the Canadians get into holiday mode for the ensuing Christmas celebrations?
Intriguingly, there has been no official Canadian retort to the repeated mocking by Donald Trump.
With his latest Truth Social post, Donald Trump has further dwelt on his Nov.29 mocking of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by saying that “many Canadians support the idea”. On Nov.29 when Justin Trudeau flew to Florida for a meeting with the US President-elect and his team, Donald Trump had reportedly remarked jokingly that if “Canada could not survive despite its large trade supplies estimated at $100 million (Canadian $130 million), it might as well become the 51st state.”
“Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state,” Trump wrote in his Dec.18 Truth Social post, adding that Canadians would “save massively on taxes and military protection.”
Justin Trudeau told Trump during the Florida meeting that his proposed 25 percent tariff on Canadian goods would devastate the country’s economy. To which the US President-elect replied that if Canada couldn’t survive despite its large trade surplus, which he estimated at $100 million (Canadian $130 million), it might as well become the 51st state, with Trudeau serving as governor, media reports had said on Dec.2.
Trump repeated the claim that the United States was subsidizing Canada in his latest Truth Social post and added that the amount was more than US$100 million (Canadian $ 130 million) a year. He did not elaborate on the claim. The US trade deficit in goods with Canada last year was $67.9 billion, (Canadian $96 billion) according to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis.
On Dec.10, Donald Trump took another jab at Canada and Justin Trudeau, referring to him as “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada,” adding that he looks forward to another meeting on trade and tariffs.
As mocking by Donald Trump of the Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau continues unabated, it has become the subject of animated discussions at social gatherings. There have been opinion polls and one such poll revealed that 13 percent of Canadians were not averse to the idea of becoming the 51st state.
After Chrystia Freeland shocked everyone with her resignation hours before she was to present the Fall Economic Report in the House of Commons, Donald Trump did not allow the opportunity to go to waste. He wrote on Truth Social that “The Great State of Canada” was stunned by her resignation, and that she was fired by “Governor Justin Trudeau.”
While quitting her job as Deputy Prime Minister -cum-Minister for Finance, Chrystia Freeland said in her letter of resignation that her decision to leave the Trudeau cabinet followed weeks of disagreement with the Prime Minister over the “best path forward” for the country.
She raised her concerns about the US President-elect’s tariff threats, urging the Liberal government to avoid unspecified “costly political gimmicks” and keep its “fiscal power dry” in the face of a potential trade war.
Chrystia Freeland had set fiscal guardrails in last year’s statement, including a commitment to keep the deficit below Canadian $40.1 billion (US$ 30 billion). The latest statement, however, shows a deficit of Canadian $62 billion (US$ 49 billion), exceeding the target by more than Canadian $20 billion (US$ 16 billion).
Trump said Freeland’s departure from the Liberal cabinet would help Canada secure better deals, adding that her approach had hindered agreements that could benefit “the very unhappy” Canadians.
When Justin Trudeau met Donald Trump on November 29, Chrystia Freeland was not a part of the Canadian entourage. Dominic LeBlanc, the new Finance Minister, was. At that time, Chrystia Freeland was both deputy prime minister and head of the cabinet committee on Canada-US relations. She was designated foreign affairs minister in 2017, just ahead of Trump’s first term, to lead the renegotiations of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
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