As the tariff war between Canada and the United States heated, President Donald Trump once again pressed to turn Canada into state 51.
And the question continues to arise every time it does: really?
The same day, even his own candidate to be the United States ambassador to Canada suggested that he was not.
But Trump, who has issued tariffs against steel and aluminum imports and threatened specific tariffs in Canada to enter into force next month, told journalists on Thursday “I love Canada”, but “it will not bend.”
“The United States cannot subsidize a country for $ 200 billion a year, we do not need its cars. We do not need its energy. We do not need its wood. We do not need anything they give.
President Donald Trump talks to the press while he meets with NATO general secretary Mark Rutte at the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, on March 13, 2025.
Mandel and/AFP
Hours before Trump spoke with the journalists, Pete Hoekstra, the president’s candidate, was in Capitol Hill, being questioned about Trump’s state idea as he testified to the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee.
A Michigan resident for a long time that he previously served as an ambassador of the United States in the Netherlands, Hoekstra affirmed the independence of Canada when the Democratic senator of Delaware asked him, Chris Coans, if maybe Trump should stop joking about Canada the state 51.
“Canada is a sovereign state, yes,” he testified.
Pete Hoekstra, candidate for the United States ambassador to Canada, testifies to an audience of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the United States ambassadors in Mexico, Japan and Canada, on March 13, 2025, in Capitol Hill in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
“The president and the relationship between the former prime minister in Canada, the characteristics and nature of that relationship, I don’t know, is it a humor?” He added.
Canadian leaders see Trump’s threat as a joke.
“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that will facilitate annexation,” said the former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
Trump continued to make fun of him referring to him as “Governor Trudeau”.
The former governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speak after Carney won the race to become the leader of the Liberal Rule of Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 9, 2025.
Carlos Osorio/Reuters
The successor of Trudeau, the leader of the Canadian Liberal Party Mark Carney, echoed Trudeau’s challenge.
“The United States is not Canada, and Canada will never be part of the United States in any way or form,” he said last weekend after being chosen.
The Prime Minister of Ontario, Doug Ford, who threatened to put a surcharge of electricity exports to the neighboring states of the United States, has also criticized Trump’s rhetoric.
“Canada is not on sale and will never be the state 51. Our supply sector is so intertwined that it cannot decipher an egg,” said an interview with CNBC on Tuesday.
The trucks are directed to the Ambassadors bridge between Windsor, Canada and Detroit, Michigan, the first day of the new 25% of tariffs on goods in Canada and Mexico, on March 4, 2025 in Windsor, Canada.
Bill Pugliano/Getty Images
This week, Trump highlighted a new turn for his argument: argue that the border between the United States and Canada was arbitrary.
“If you look at a map, they drawn an artificial line through it between Canada and the United States, only a direct artificial line. Someone did it a long time ago, many ago, many decades ago, and it makes no sense,” he said Thursday. “This would be the most incredible visually incredible country.”
“‘O, Canada”, the national anthem, I love it. I think it’s great. Keep it, “he said.” But it will be for the State, one of our best states, perhaps our greatest state. “
The sunlight shines through the flags of Canada and the United States, united by a protester outside in Parliament Hill in Ottawa, on February 1, 2025.
Justin Tang/The Canadian Press through AP, file
Adding an additional state requires the approval of the Congress, according to the Constitution of the United States. Historically, residents of a non -American territory who joined the Union voted in a referendum before requesting status. Surveys show that they are probably the proud Canadians who do not agree to continue.
Not to mention that many political experts think that most residents of a state previously in Canada-51 would vote, the democratic blue.
