Since Donald Trump won a second term in the White House, one of his most bizarre fixations has been on Canada, the United States’ next-door neighbor and closest ally. It seemingly began after the election, when the president floated the idea of annexing Canada in meeting with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau. Though this appeared to be a joke at the time, it was then seemingly elevated to the level of serious policy. Trump has continued to call Canada the “51st state” and Trudeau its “governor,” and the president has taken an increasingly adversarial approach toward the Great White North, with reports emerging that he is said to be mulling dramatic shifts in the two nations’ long-standing relationship on matters of trade and national security. Trump has of course repeatedly threatened to impose tariffs against our northern neighbor, and this week levied and then partially paused tariffs against Canada and Mexico but took specific aim at Canada and alleged that Trudeau was using the issue to “stay in power.”
As the dynamic between the United States and Canada continues to fray, here’s a look at some of the wildest threats and claims Trump and his aides have reportedly made.
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Annex Canada using “economic force” … for its minerals?
In early January, Trump was asked by a reporter whether he would use military force to annex Canada and make it the 51st state. He responded that he would use “economic force.”
In February, the Toronto Star reported on a series of comments from Justin Trudeau talking about his conversations with Trump that were captured on a hot mic. Per the outlet, Trudeau told a room full of Canadian business leaders at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit that Trump’s words stem from a desire to obtain Canada’s critical minerals. “They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” he said. “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.”
Earlier this week, Trudeau drew a connection between Trump’s previously announced 25 percent tariffs against Canada and his ongoing mantra about making Canada the 51st state. “What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” he told reporters at a press conference Tuesday.
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Redraw the U.S.-Canada border
Trump has reportedly taken his talk about annexing Canada to new heights. The New York Times reported that the president spoke to Trudeau in early February and questioned the validity of the 1908 treaty that established the border between Canada and the United States and that he wanted to “revise the boundary.” The new report echoes similar reporting in the Toronto Star where Trudeau said the treaty was raised by Trump in their conversations, prompting a rebuttal from the prime minister:
According to sources, Trudeau said he replied to Trump that the treaty was replaced by the Canadian Constitution. He also reminded the president that Trudeau’s father, former prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, had patriated the constitution from Great Britain to make it clear that Canada has sovereignty over its own territory.
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Redistribute the Great Lakes (and take Canada’s water)
The phone call between not-yet-confirmed Commerce secretary Howard Lutnick and Canadian finance minister Dominic LeBlanc, reported by the Times, also broached the subject of the Great Lakes, the five massive freshwater lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario) that lie along the northern border and contain 21 percent of the world’s freshwater supply. Lutnick reportedly told LeBlanc that Trump is interested in tossing the standing agreements between the two nations on control of the bodies of water.
During the 2024 campaign, Trump on two occasions seemed to suggest using British Columbia’s water in California, as the Toronto Star has reported.
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Remove Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence alliance
In February, the Financial Times reported that Peter Navarro, a senior White House adviser, was advocating for Canada’s removal from the Five Eyes, the international intelligence alliance. The coalition, whose origins stretch back as far as World War II, consists of information sharing between the intelligence agencies of the U.S., Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. Though Navarro denied the FT’s reporting, a new report suggests that the proposal is still being considered in the White House’s circle.
According to the New York Times, Lutnick spoke on the phone with LeBlanc and laid out numerous grievances that Trump had toward Canada. One issue top of mind for Trump was the Five Eyes alliance that, Lutnick claims, Trump wished to remove Canada from.
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Cancel NORAD
Per the Times report, Lutnick also told LeBlanc that Trump was reconsidering military cooperation, including the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) — the long-standing partnership that aims to protect the continent from outside threats like nuclear missile attacks. Since then, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has apparently tried to assure Canada that this was not going to happen, according to the Times’ sources.
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The fentanyl blame game
As part of his trade-war rhetoric, Trump has repeatedly accused Canada of not doing enough to curb the flow of illegal fentanyl into the U.S. across the northern border — which is his primary public justification for imposing high tariffs on Canada. There’s no evidence to support these claims, as CFR notes:
Canada plays virtually no role in the U.S. fentanyl influx, especially compared to the other countries. The country contributes less than 1 percent to its southern neighbor’s street fentanyl supply, as both the Canadian government and data from the DEA[.]
