While the tariff war between Canada and the United States warms up, President Donald Trump Thursday pushed a strong time to make Canada the 51st state.
And the question continues to ask each time it does: is it serious?
The same day, even his own candidate to be the American ambassador to Canada suggested that he was not.
But Trump, who issued prices against steel and aluminum imports and threatened specific prices in Canada to enter into force next month, journalists “I Love Canada” told journalists on Thursday, but “he’s not going to fold”.
“The United States cannot subsidize a country for $ 200 billion a year, we don’t need their cars. We don’t need their energy. We don’t need their wood. We don’t need anything they give.
President Donald Trump speaks to the press as he meets the secretary general of NATO, Mark Rutte, in the oval office of the White House in Washington, on March 13, 2025.
Mandel and / AFP
A few hours before Trump spoke to journalists, Pete Hoekstra, the president’s candidate, was on Capitol Hill, questioned about the 51st idea of Trump’s state when he testified before the senatorial committee of foreign relations.
A long-standing resident of Michigan who previously was an American ambassador to the Netherlands, Hoekstra confirmed the independence of Canada when asked by the Democratic Senator of Delaware, Chris Coons, if Trump was perhaps to stop joke on Canada on the 51st state.
“Canada is a sovereign state, yes,” he said.
Pete Hoekstra, a candidate for the American ambassador to Canada, testifies before an audience of the Senate foreign relations committee on American ambassadors to Mexico, Japan and Canada, March 13, 2025, on Capitol Hill in Washington.
Jacquelyn Martin / AP
“The president and the relationship between the former Prime Minister in Canada, the characteristics and the nature of this relationship, I don’t know, is this a case where there is humor?”, He added.
Canadian leaders consider Trump’s threat as no jokes.
“What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy because it will facilitate the annex,” warned former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Trump, continued to taunt him by referring to him as “Trudeau Governor”.
The former governor of the Bank of Canada, Mark Carney, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, speak after Carney won the race to become head of the Liberal party in power in Canada in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, March 9, 2025.
Carlos Osorio / Reuters
The successor of Trudeau, the leader of the Canadian Liberal Party Mark Carney, echoes the Trudeau.
“America is not Canada, and Canada will never be part of America in any way, form or form,” he said last weekend after his elected official.
Ontario Prime Minister Doug Ford, who threatened to surcharge on electricity exports to neighboring American states, also afflicted Trump’s rhetoric.
“Canada is not for sale and will never be the 51st state. Our supply sector is so intertwined, you cannot get an egg,” he said an interview with CNBC on Tuesday.
Trucks are heading for the ambassador bridge between Windsor, Canada and Detroit, Michigan on the first day of new prices of 25% of President Donald Trump on goods from Canada and Mexico, March 4, 2025 in Windsor, Canada.
Images Bill Pugliano / Getty
This week, Trump underlined a new turn to his argument – arguing that the border established between the United States and Canada was simply arbitrary.
“If you look at a card, they have drawn an artificial line through it between Canada and the United States, just a right artificial line. Someone did it a long time ago, a lot, several decades ago, and makes no sense,” he said on Thursday. “It would be the most incredible country visually.”
“‘O, Canada,” the national anthem, I love it. I think it’s great. Keep him, “he said.” But it will be for the state, one of our greatest states, perhaps our greatest state. “”
Sun light shines through the flags of Canada and the United States, maintained together by a demonstrator outside on the hill of Parliament in Ottawa, on February 1, 2025.
Justin Tang / The Canadian Press via AP, file
The addition of an additional state requires the approval of the congress, according to the American Constitution. Historically, residents of a non -American territory who joined the union voted during a referendum before petitioning the state. Surveys show that it is likely that Canadian proud may not agree to follow.
Without forgetting that many political experts believe that most residents of an old Canada -51st state – would vote – democratic blue.
