7 times Trump reignited ’51st state’ rhetoric, suggesting ‘that’s the only way it works’ for Canada

U.S. President Donald Trump has reignited his rhetoric around Canada becoming the “51st state,” shortly after his administration warned Canadian politicians against getting involved in U.S. affairs.

In a podcast appearance on Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra said America is “closely watching Canadian activities” for election interference, referencing comments from Canada’s Industry Minister, ⁠Mélanie Joly, about retaliatory tariffs. “Keep your nose out of American politics,” he said.

Joly has hit back against his claims, saying: “We never do that, and we never accept that also being done to us in Canada,” while speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday. “What I’ve done in the U.S. is to attract investments…and that will continue to be my strategy in the U.S. and also around the world.”

Later that day, Trump reiterated his ongoing stance that Canada should become the 51st U.S. state at a campaign rally in Arizona. Here are seven key occasions the U.S. president has suggested annexing Canada.

On Wednesday, Trump listed a number of grievances he has with Canada in his speech at Laughlin/Bullhead International Airport, adding: “They’ll end up being the 51st state, because that’s the only way it works.”

He said: “Canada treats us very badly. They always have. Not anymore. It’s a whole different ball game now that Trump is in town.”

The U.S. president also suggested Canada will “be doing something just like Greenland,” adding that it “just adds to our beautiful plate,” referring to the U.S.

He made the comments the same day Hoekstra warned Canadian politicians against engaging in behaviour that could be inferred as election interference.

Canada’s technical recession

After almost a year of silence from Trump on the 51st state topic, the U.S. president renewed the rhetoric after Canada entered a technical recession in June this year.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump wrote “51st state!” with a link to a Bloomberg report about the technical recession. Hoekstra then shared the post on his X account just hours before the  Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc and chief trade negotiator Janice Charette were due to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer in Washington, D.C.

In September 2025, Trump referenced his desire for Canada to become the 51st state during his address to U.S. military officials in Virginia.

In the speech, he claimed work on the “Golden Dome Missile Defence Shield” was proceeding and that Canada had recently contacted him to say “they want to be a part of it.”

“To which I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just join our country? You become the 51st state and you get it for free,” he suggested.

On April 28, 2025, the day of Canada’s federal election, Trump told Canadians to “elect the man” who will let Canada become the 51st state in a Truth Social post.

“Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st,” the post read.

He added: “America can no longer subsidize Canada with the Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year that we have been spending in the past. It makes no sense unless Canada is a State!”

Good luck to the Great people of Canada. Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in…

— Commentary Trump Daily Posts (@TrumpDailyPosts) April 28, 2025

The post came just a few days after Trump sat down for an interview with TIME magazine’s senior political correspondent Eric Cortellessa and editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs.

“You’ve talked about acquiring Greenland, taking control of the Panama Canal, making Canada the 51st state,” Cortellessa said. “Maybe you’re trolling a little bit on that one. I don’t know.”

Trump’s answer was short: “Actually, no, I’m not.”

Trump’s comments in the TIME interview doubled down on statements he made earlier that month in an interview that aired during the Super Bowl pre-show.

When asked whether his talk of annexing Canada is “a real thing,” Trump told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier: “Yeah, it is.”

“I think Canada would be much better off being the 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada. And I’m not going to let that happen,” he said. “Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially a subsidy to Canada?”

Trump has repeatedly claimed that the U.S. loses hundreds of billions of dollars a year to Canada during his second term as president. But according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative, the U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada was US$48.3 billion in 2025, a 21 percent decrease ($12.9 billion) over 2024 and far less than Trump has claimed.

In January 2025, before the inauguration for his second term, Trump threatened to use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state and called the border between the two countries an “artificially drawn line.”

“You get rid of that artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security,” he said at a news conference at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida. “And don’t forget, we basically protect Canada.”

Then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded with a post on X, in which he said: “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.

Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) January 7, 2025

Trump first floated the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state during a dinner with then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago in November 2024.

A few days later, in December that year, Trump called Trudeau “governor.” In a Truth Social post on Dec. 10, 2024, the U.S. president said it was a pleasure to have dined “with Governor Justin Trudeau of the great state of Canada” and that he looked forward to seeing “the governor again soon” to continue their “in-depth talks on tariffs and trade.”

It was the start of a long-running commentary from Trump on the annexation of Canada, which has now lasted almost two years.

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