A Democracy Drive Thread
Since retaking office the president has repeatedly floated absorbing Canada as the “51st state” — needling its leaders and, in July 2026, posting a doctored image of the country draped in the American flag.
Canada is a sovereign nation and one of America’s closest allies. This thread tracks, in order and with sources, the president’s campaign to pressure and annex it — the “51st state” taunts and the symbolic gestures — presented chronologically so the trajectory is visible on its own.
February 25, 2025
On the ground
In late February 2025 the Financial Times reported that Peter Navarro — one of Trump’s closest advisers and his trade chief — had pushed for the United States to remove Canada from the Five Eyes intelligence-sharing network it shares with the U.K., Australia and New Zealand, as Trump escalated tariff and annexation pressure on Ottawa. Navarro denied the report on February 25, 2025, calling it “nonsense” and “crazy” and insisting the U.S. would “never, ever jeopardize our national security … with allies like Canada.”
March 19, 2025
In his own words
In a March 19, 2025 Fox News interview with Laura Ingraham, asked why he was tougher on Canada than on U.S. adversaries, Trump answered, “Only because it’s meant to be our 51st state,” and called Canada “one of the nastiest countries to deal with.” He justified it with the false claim that the U.S. “subsidizes Canada by $200 billion a year” — a figure that vastly inflates the actual 2024 U.S. goods-trade deficit with Canada of roughly $63 billion.
“Only because it’s meant to be our 51st state. One of the nastiest countries to deal with is Canada.”
April 23, 2025
In his own words
At an Oval Office signing ceremony on April 23, 2025, five days before Canada’s federal election, Trump claimed Canada “would cease to exist as a country” if the United States stopped buying its goods, and repeated that the U.S. needs nothing from Canada — not its autos, not its oil. Returning to his annexation theme, he added, “I have to be honest, as a state, it works great.”
“I have to be honest, as a state, it works great.”
April 28, 2025
In his own words
On the morning of Canada’s federal election, April 28, 2025, Trump posted on Truth Social urging Canadians to “elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half” and promising their car, steel, aluminum, lumber and energy industries would “QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st State of the United States of America.” Canadian leaders across parties rejected the appeal; the Liberals won the election in a result widely read as a backlash to Trump’s annexation threats and tariffs.
“…if Canada becomes the cherished 51st State of the United States of America.”
October 23, 2025
On the ground
On October 23, 2025, Trump announced on Truth Social that he was ending all trade negotiations with Canada “effective immediately,” after the province of Ontario ran a U.S. television ad featuring audio of Ronald Reagan warning that tariffs “hurt every American worker and consumer.” Trump branded the ad “FAKE” and accused Canada of trying to influence a Supreme Court case on the legality of his tariffs. Days later he raised tariffs on Canada by an additional 10% over the ad. Ontario paused the campaign — but only after it aired during World Series games.
January 20, 2026
On the ground
In a post shortly after midnight on January 20, 2026 — the first anniversary of his second inauguration — Trump shared on Truth Social a digitally altered image showing a map of the Americas with Canada, Greenland, and Venezuela draped in the U.S. flag. The picture was doctored from an August 18, 2025 White House photograph of Trump with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and European and NATO leaders reviewing a Russia-Ukraine map. Trump reshared the same image on July 14, 2026. The posts drew sharp rebukes in Canada, whose leaders have repeatedly rejected his suggestion that the country become the “51st state.”
January 21, 2026
In his own words
In his January 21, 2026 address to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Trump attacked Canada a day after Prime Minister Mark Carney received a standing ovation for a speech widely read as a rebuke of Trump. Pointing to his planned continent-wide “Golden Dome” missile-defense system, Trump said it would “by its very nature [be] defending Canada,” that “Canada gets a lot of freebies from us,” and that “Canada lives because of the United States” — complaining that Carney “wasn’t so grateful.”
“Canada gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful. Canada lives because of the United States.”
February 10, 2026
On the ground
On February 10, 2026, Trump threatened to withhold the U.S. permit needed to open the $4.7 billion Gordie Howe International Bridge between Detroit and Windsor, Ontario, saying that given all the U.S. has done for Canada it should own “perhaps, at least one half of this asset.” Canada had fronted the full construction cost and agreed to split toll revenue with Michigan. After the standoff, the two sides reached a deal and the bridge opened on July 27, 2026.
March 11, 2026
In his own words
In a March 2026 Truth Social post ostensibly about fighting invasive Asian carp in the Great Lakes, Trump listed the governors he would enlist — “Illinois, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, New York and of course, the future Governor of Canada, Mark Carney.” It was not the first time he had demoted Canada’s prime minister to a “governor,” reviving a jab he had used on Carney in January and earlier on Justin Trudeau as part of his push to make Canada the 51st state.
“…of course, the future Governor of Canada, Mark Carney.”
July 14, 2026
On the ground
On July 14, 2026, Trump posted the doctored map image again on Truth Social: the same digitally altered August 2025 photograph — faked to show Canada, Greenland, and Venezuela covered by the American flag — that he had first shared in January 2026. The reshare came amid his renewed war with Iran and escalating U.S. pressure on Venezuela, and drew fresh condemnation in Canada.