Trump Proposes “Economic Force” to Pressure Canada into Becoming the 51st State

US President-elect Donald Trump suggested using “economic force” to push Canada toward becoming the 51st state, citing concerns over trade imbalances and US military aid. He reiterated plans to impose “substantial” tariffs on Canadian and Mexican goods.

Trump argued that integrating Canada would resolve trade issues and reduce reliance on US military support. “We’ve been good neighbors, but we can’t do it forever,” he stated.

When asked about the possibility of a military confrontation to secure control over Greenland or the Panama Canal, Trump refused to rule it out, saying, “I can’t assure you on either of those two, but I can say this, we need them for economic security.”

In response, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau dismissed Trump’s remarks on X, stating, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

Trump’s Economic Leverage Threat

Trump also emphasized that the US subsidizes Canada, with products like cars and milk coming under scrutiny. “Canada, don’t take our cars, our farm products, anything, so we won’t take theirs either,” he said. “We protect Canada. We are spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada, but we lose in trade deficits.”

At the same time, Trump criticized Mexico for what he described as its exploitation of the US in trade, as well as its ongoing violence tied to drug cartels. He added, “Mexico is really in trouble, a lot of trouble, very dangerous, and we’re going to be announcing a future date. Pretty soon we’re going to change because we do most of the work there, and it’s ours.”

Trump has promised a tougher approach in his second term, threatening new tariffs against both Mexico and Canada unless they take stronger action to curb migration and illegal drug trafficking across US borders.