Acknowledging Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s hot mic moment before Canadian business leaders, U.S. President Donald Trump said that he is serious about turning Canada into America’s 51st state.
Trudeau asserted late last week Trump’s rhetoric about annexing Canada is not a joke, but rather a serious threat. His comments were picked up on a hot mic at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto.
“I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau reportedly said.
“They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those. But Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country, and it is a real thing.”
In a Super Bowl interview with Fox News’ Bret Baier, Trump was confronted with Trudeau’s comments and confirmed that his push to annex Canada is a “real thing.”
“Yeah it is. I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada and I’m not gonna let that happen,” said Trump.
“Why are we paying $200 billion a year essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now if they’re a 51st state I don’t mind doing it.”
Trump was referring to the trade deficit that the United States has with Canada, which amounted to $63.3 billion USD in 2024.
Since Trudeau’s Nov. 2024 visit to Mar-a-Lago, the incoming president joked that Canada should be annexed.
However, Trump escalated the threat in early January when he told reporters that he is seeking to annex Canada through “economic force” to remove the “artificial line” between Canada and America.
In recent months, Trudeau and his cabinet minister have shrugged off suggestions that Trump’s statements are anything more than a joke.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc attended the Mar-a-Lago dinner with Trudeau and said that Trump’s 51st state remark was nothing more than teasing.
“In a three-hour social evening at the president’s residence in Florida on a long weekend of American Thanksgiving, the conversation was going to be light-hearted. The president was telling jokes, the president was teasing us, it was, of course, in no way a serious comment,” said LeBlanc.
