Donald Trump says Canada becoming 51st U.S. state is ‘a great idea.’ Jean Charest calls the comment a ‘wake-up call’

Posted on December 18, 2024 by Peggy

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump is taking aim at Canada once more, saying it would be “a great idea” to make it America’s “51st state.”

“No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense!” Trump said in a post early Wednesday morning on Truth Social.

“Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!”

Early Wednesday afternoon, former deputy prime minister and Quebec premier Jean Charest fired back at Trump’s post, calling it a “wake-up call.”

“Every Canadian, regardless of their opinion of the Prime Minister or political affiliation, should feel deeply offended by President Trump’s remarks,” Charest wrote in a post to X (formerly Twitter).

“For too long, we have been complacent in our relationships with the United States and the rest of the world. We need to unite and rise to this historic occasion to shape the future of Canada.”

Insult to injury

Trump’s latest social media comments come in the midst of a challenging month for Canada-U.S. relations.

In late November, the president-elect announced plans for sweeping, 25-per-cent tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico and China a move that shocked Canadian politicians and businesses alike.

“It’s like a family member stabbing you, right in the heart,” said Ontario Premier Doug Ford shortly after news of the tariff threats first emerged.

By the end of the month, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had made a surprise trip to Mar-a-lago, Trump’s home and resort in West Palm Beach, Fla., to meet with the once-and-future U.S. president.

News emerged from the meeting that tariffs didn’t appear avoidable in the immediate future, but Trudeau appeared optimistic, posting to social media that he “look(ed) forward to the work we can do together, again.”

But within days, reports surfaced that Trump was talking about a very different kind of collaboration.

Rumours soon circulated that during the dinner, Trump joked that, if the proposed tariffs meant Canada’s economy couldn’t survive, then maybe the country should become America’s 51st state.

The rumoured jab was followed by a bewildering Truth Social post on Dec. 3 captioned “Oh Canada!” and depicting Trump next to a Canadian flag, overlooking a rocky vista that appeared to feature the Matterhorn, a mountain on the border between Switzerland and Italy.

“The president was telling jokes; the president was teasing us,” federal Finance Minister Dominic Leblanc, who attended the Mar-a-lago meeting, told reporters in early December. “It was of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment.”

Others responded more forcefully. A week later, Trudeau spoke of coming plans to meet the impacts of a second Trump term, and Ford went so far as to threaten to cut off his province’s energy supply to the U.S., should the tariffs come into effect.

Trump’s allusions to annexation continued, calling the prime minister “Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada,” and within hours, Trudeau referred to U.S. Vice-President Kamala Harris’s defeat by Trump in the November election when describing widespread attacks on “women’s rights and women’s progress.“

“It wasn’t supposed to be that way. We were supposed to be on a steady, if difficult sometimes, march towards progress,” Trudeau said.

Trump ally Elon Musk stepped into the fray as well, taking to X to call the prime minister “such an insufferable tool,” who “won’t be in power for much longer.”

This week, Trudeau unveiled a five-pillared approach to border security in the new year, including more than $1 billion in funding. Tightening Canada’s border with the United States is a key factor in Trump’s tariff threats, citing claims of “ridiculous open borders,” overwhelmed with illegal migration and drug trafficking.

“It’s an important step to show Canadians and our American partners that we share their concern around border security and border integrity,” said LeBlanc on Tuesday.

“We have taken note of president(-elect) Trump’s comments.”

What’s that about a subsidy?

A common thread through Trump’s recent comments has been the claim that the United States subsidizes the Canadian economy “to the tune of over $100 billion a year,” sometimes written as $100 million.

While it’s not definitively clear what exactly Trump is referring to with that figure, a common thorn in the president-elect’s side has been Canada’s trade surplus with the United States on goods, which has grown in recent years, reaching nearly US$80 billion in 2022.

In short, of the hundreds of billions in goods traded between the two countries each year, a majority typically comprises exports to the United States from Canada, and while that margin varies, it’s a complaint Trump has returned to throughout his career in politics.

“Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal,” Trump wrote in a 2018 post to X, amid the negotiation of the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA).

“According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 billion dollars in trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!)”

Mexico, meanwhile, typically runs up an even larger surplus, with US$152 billion tallied in 2023 and nearly as much between January and October this year. Trump has claimed the U.S. “subsidy” for that country nears US$300 billion.

The president-elect’s 2024 platform pledges to “rebalance trade” under a second Trump administration, citing a total U.S. trade deficit of more than US$1 trillion in goods, and noting plans to institute tariffs, pass new legislation and “respond to unfair trading practices.”

With files from CTV News’ Stephanie Ha and Robert Buffam, CP24’s Bryann Aguilar and Joshua Freeman, BNN Bloomberg’s Brendan Murray and The Canadian Press

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