The Play-By-Play of the US and Canada’s Rocky Relationship (2 of 4)

The 51st State Statement

In the weeks before returning to office in January 2025, Trump made a series of controversial remarks about Canada, including referring to it as the 51st state.

When the media asked Trump if he was going to use military force to swallow up Canada, he responded that he would use economic force and that the US-Canadian border had been “artificially” drawn. Then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wasn’t having any of it, posting on X, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

The Tariff Policy Toward Canada

Enacting tariffs was the centerpiece of Trump’s presidential campaign, ostensibly to fuel billions of dollars into the US economy. Canada, in particular, was in Trump’s crosshairs, as he said he would impose a 25% tariff on Canadian goods, which he followed through with an “emergency economic powers” executive order, alongside a 10% tariff on energy. The tariffs were in response to Trump’s claim that Canada hadn’t done enough to curb the flow of fentanyl from their border, although this was a complete lie (only around 0.2% of all fentanyl seizures came from their neighbors up north). The tariffs were supposed to take effect on February 4, 2025, but were postponed later.