Rubio Addresses Trump’s Canada Annexation Comments as Canada Heads to the Polls
With Canadians heading to the polls for a federal election, Secretary of State Marco Rubio addressed President Donald Trump’s past remarks regarding the possibility of Canada becoming the “51st state.”
During an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, April 27, host Kristen Welker questioned Rubio about whether the State Department had “taken any steps to carry out” Trump’s plans “as he has said, to annex Canada.”
“The President has stated repeatedly that he was informed by the previous Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau] that Canada couldn’t survive without unfair trade practices with the U.S. In response, [Trump] inquired, ‘Well, if you can’t survive as a nation without treating us unfairly in trade, then you should become a state,'” Rubio stated.
Rubio’s comments follow a dispute between Canada’s former Prime Minister Trudeau and Trump concerning Canada’s handling of pressures felt by Trump’s . Canada has also responded with on goods imported from the U.S.
Trump has repeatedly suggested to both and that Canada could potentially become the 51st state of the U.S. if Trudeau offered something to Trump amid ongoing tariff discussions, Trump emphasized that as a state, the country would be exempt from tariffs.
“What I’d like to see; Canada become our 51st state,” Trump said. “If people wanted to play the game right, it would be 100% certain that it would become a state.”
Canada’s current Prime Minister Mark Carney has also addressed Trump’s continued statements about annexing Canada, stating that Trump brought up the issue during a phone call in March. Speaking at a campaign press conference, he said: “To be clear, as I’ve said to anyone who’s raised this issue in private or in public, including the President, it will never happen.”
In an April 22 , Trump reiterated his previous statements, saying he was “really not trolling” about making Canada the 51st state, arguing that America doesn’t “need anything from Canada.”
“We’re taking care of their military. We’re taking care of every aspect of their lives, and we don’t need them to make cars for us. In fact, we don’t want them to make cars for us. We want to make our own cars. We don’t need their lumber. We don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything from Canada,” Trump said. “And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state.”
Trudeau—who as Canada’s Liberal Party leader—has previously advised lawmakers and business leaders to take the annexation threat seriously. At a Canada-U.S. Economic Summit in Toronto in February, Trudeau suggested that Trump desires access to Canada’s critical minerals, stating, “Mr Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing.”
As mentioned, Rubio’s recent comments coincide with Canada’s April 28 federal election, which could result in a new leader for tariff negotiations with the United States. Trump’s on the Canadian elections thus far, with the Liberal Party leveraging a surge of Canadian nationalism stemming from the ongoing trade concerns. The next leader of the country could determine the future of Canada’s crucial relationship with the U.S. and how it will evolve.
“They’re going to have a new leader. We’ll deal with a new leadership in Canada,” Rubio said. “There are many things to work cooperatively with Canada on, but we actually don’t like the way they treated us when it comes to trade, and the President has made that point when he responded to the previous Prime Minister.”
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