Trudeau rebuffs Trump’s assertion that Canada should become US’s 51st state

In a post on X on Tuesday, Trudeau said, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

He added, “Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”

That post came soon after Trump reiterated the idea that Canada should join America. Trump has frequently, since his election, referred to Trudeau as the Governor of the “great state of Canada”.

On Tuesday, asked whether he proposed to use military power to annex Canada, Trump said, “No. Economic force.”

“You get rid of the artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like and it would also be much better national security. Don’t forget: We basically protect Canada,” he said, during the course of a press conference.

Trudeau’s statement came a day after he announced his intent to resign as Prime Minister and leader of the ruling Liberal Party after a successor has been selected following a leadership race. Rules for that race and other details, including the schedule, are expected to be announced later this week.

After his election in November, Trump had threatened to impose a 25% tariff on Canada (and Mexico) due to the perceived flow of illegal immigrants into the US, along with the deadly drug, fentanyl.

Trudeau subsequently met Trump at his Florida residence, Mar-a-Lago, at the end of November, but the latter has not relented on his tariff threat. He repeated it on Tuesday saying there could be “substantial tariffs”.

After Trudeau’s post, Canada’s Foreign Minister Melanie Joly posted, “President-elect Trump’s comments show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country. Our economy is strong. Our people are strong. We will never back down in the face of threats.”

Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre, favoured to become Canada’s PM after the next Federal elections, also posted a rebuttal: “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period. We are a great and independent country.”

However, Trump doesn’t appear to have taken the pushback seriously. Hours after Trudeau’s post, he had another on social media showing the American flag superimposed on Canada, with the words, “Oh Canada”. That may, or may not, have been a play on ‘O Canada’, the national anthem of America’s northern neighbour.

Trump’s jibes come at a time the Trudeau government is in crisis mode. The PM is scheduled to attend a National Caucus meeting on Wednesday before flying off to Washington to attend the state funeral for late US President Jimmy Carter.