Trump has to be taken seriously because he’s about to reoccupy the world’s most powerful office. But fundamentally, he’s a crackpot.
Canadian prime minister Trudeau resigned on Monday, January 6, 2025 — the same day Congress certified Trump’s re-election (with no drama, compared to 4 years ago).
Almost immediately, Trump “pitched the idea of a ‘merged’ United States and Canada … noting there would be no tariffs if the two countries were one.” (There would be no tariffs if Trump doesn’t carry out his threat to impose them, either, but never mind that.)
Why, you wonder, is an America Firster excited about “merging” with Canada, a foreign country? Here’s your answer: “He said the merger would be beneficial for the U.S., because it would ‘no longer suffer’ from ‘massive Trade Deficits’ and subsidies that it provides to Canada,” The Hill reported (here).
The U.S. does have a trade deficit with Canada ($67 billion in 2023, see article here), mainly because of imported oil and gas, although we also get lumber from Canada. And the U.S. does send subsidies to Canada, but only a paltry $30 – $35 million a year, not the $100 million or $100 billion Trump has variously claimed (see Snopes debunking here).
It’s unclear whether the next President of the United States — the guy who claimed Biden was too old to remain president — is confusing subsidies with trade deficits. (But he can still truthfully claim he’s not in a nursing home with dementia like this Republican congresswoman.)
“After Trudeau’s announcement Monday, Trump touted the idea that many Canadians would ‘LOVE’ the idea of being the ’51st State’ of the U.S.,” The Hill continued. That sounds like Trump the carnival barker selling snake oil as he usually does, but just for fun, let’s fact-check it.
We don’t have to guess. After Trump first floated the idea of joining Canada to the United States, someone conducted a poll of Canadians. What they found is that while support for the notion varied among provinces, nowhere did it reach 20%. In all six provinces, opposition ranged from 74% to 90% (details here); so, no, Canadians don’t want to become Americans.
There’s also the fact part of Trudeau’s political troubles at home stemmed from being seen as kowtowing to Trump (see story here).
However, what Canadians think of Trump’s crackpot ideas is as irrelevant as what Denmark thinks of them, because when Trump sets his mind to something, only his own opinion counts.
Image above: Trump and Trudeau; below, Trump imagining himself as King of North America
