U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday he again told some unnamed Canadian official that the country should consider joining the U.S. as the 51st state — returning to the annexationist rhetoric he used earlier in the year and subsequently dialed back after Prime Minister Mark Carney was elected.
Speaking to senior military officials at an event in Virginia, Trump said the U.S. is developing the Golden Dome missile defence system and Canada could be covered by it if the country becomes part of the States.
“Canada called me a couple of weeks ago. They want to be part of it. To which I said, well, why don’t you just join our country? Become 51, become the 51st state and you get it for free,” Trump said.
Trump said he doesn’t know if his pitch “made a big impact,” but he said, to him, joining the two countries together “makes a lot of sense.”
He said Canada is “having a hard time” after being hit by tariffs, claiming his trade policy is shifting trillions of dollars worth of investments to the U.S.
Trump has previously floated Canada joining his proposed defence system, saying the country will need to kick in some $71 billion US if it wants to be under the U.S. security umbrella, which is designed to protect against missiles, drones and other aerial threats.
Trump returns to ’51st state’ comment at address to U.S. military leaders
Asked for a comment on Trump’s remarks, a spokesperson for Carney said: “I’ll just point you to the many comments we’ve made in the past on similar comments from the president.”
At their first face-to-face meeting in May, for example, Carney diplomatically shot down Trump’s 51st state talk, saying that as a property developer he should know “there are some places that are never for sale.”
“Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it’s not for sale and it won’t be for sale ever,” Carney said.
Trump said “never say never,” about uniting the two countries but acknowledged it “takes two to tango” to make a takeover like that work.
In response, Carney said: “Never, never, never, never, never.”
Carney later told reporters he asked Trump to stop with the 51st state taunts during a private luncheon at the White House.
As for joining the Golden Dome, Carney told reporters at the G7 in June there may be a “potential extension” of NORAD, the existing bi-national air defence alliance.
“These are live, ongoing discussions and we will continue to pursue them as long as they make sense for Canada,” Carney said of buying into Trump’s expansive missile defence plan.
Trump’s latest remarks come only days after Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said it’s Canadians who are fixated on the 51st state talk, and that sort of rhetoric is now in the past.
“That came out of a time when there was a certain kind of relationship between the president and a prime minister. You guys can talk about it. I’m not. I’m focused on delivering results,” Hoekstra told reporters during a stop in New Brunswick.
“You know, I’ve got no direction to, you know, continue a dialogue on the 51st state. It hasn’t been in play for months,” he said.
