U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he’s considering using “economic force” to merge Canada with the United States, arguing “we don’t need anything they have” to trade and repeating his desire for Canada to become a U.S. state.
Trump, in a wide-ranging press conference from his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida with less than two weeks before he takes office, also said he wants NATO members to spend at least five per cent of their GDP on defence, more than double the current two-per cent target.
His comments were the latest in recent threats against longstanding U.S. allies, renewing questions and concerns about plans to use trade as a cudgel, and went beyond similar comments he has made about making Canada a part of the U.S.
Trump told reporters he wouldn’t rule out using military action to take back control of the Panama Canal and acquire Danish-controlled Greenland, which he said the U.S. needs for economic and security reasons.
Asked if he was considering the same to “annex and acquire Canada,” which Trump has repeatedly said should become the 51st U.S. state, Trump responded, “No — economic force.”
“Canada and the United States, that would really be something,” he said. “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.”
Trump repeatedly stated the U.S. “subsidizes” Canada to the tune of US$200 billion in trade and spends billions more on continental defence programs like NORAD than Canada, who he said “don’t essentially have a military.”
“We don’t need their cars, we don’t need their lumber,” he continued. “We don’t need anything they have. We don’t need their dairy products.
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“We don’t need anything. So why are we losing $200 billion a year and more to protect Canada?”
Canada and the U.S. are each other’s top trading partners, with more than $3.6 billion worth of goods and services crossing the border daily. The U.S. Trade Representative’s office says the U.S. trade deficit with Canada — which is different from a subsidy — was US$53.5 billion in 2022.
Trump first raised the idea of Canada becoming the 51st U.S. state when he hosted Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other Canadian officials at Mar-a-Lago in November, shortly after Trump threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all products from Canada and Mexico.
Although the Canadians said at the time that Trump was joking, the U.S. president-elect has repeated the comment multiple times on social media and called Trudeau a “governor.”
Trump on Tuesday said because of all the money the U.S. spends on Canada, “they should be a state.”
“We’re doing it because of habit, and we’re doing it because we like our neighbours and we’ve been good neighbours, but we can’t do it forever,” he said.
Trump suggested he plans to follow through with his threat of tariffs on Canada, despite initially tying it to demands for increased border security, which Ottawa has sought to address.
He said the tariffs will “make up for” the “record numbers” of migrants and drugs flowing into the U.S. from Canada and Mexico.
“We want to get along with everybody, but you know, it takes two to tango,” he said.
Trump’s comments about Canada came hours after U.S. President Joe Biden commended Trudeau, who announced Monday he will resign after a new Liberal leader is chosen, for strengthening U.S.-Canada relations as prime minister.
Trump also said he wants to see NATO members spend at least five per cent of their GDP on defence. The military alliance has set a spending target of two per cent, which Canada currently does not meet.
“If you’re going to have a country and a regular military, you’re at four per cent,” Trump said. The U.S. currently spends 3.38 per cent on defence.
“They can all afford it, but they should be at five per cent, not two per cent.”
Canada, which currently spends 1.37 per cent of GDP on defence, currently projects to reach 1.76 per cent by 2030. The government says it’s on a “clear path” to hit two per cent by 2032, though the parliamentary budget officer has raised doubts about the spending plan.
NATO allies, including the U.S. under the Biden administration and during Trump’s first term, have for years criticized Canada for not meeting the two-per cent target.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has suggested the NATO spending target should be raised to three per cent given the increased threat posed by Russia and other foreign adversaries.
Trump on Tuesday repeated his oft-told story of refusing to agree to come to the aid of NATO members that don’t meet the spending target if they are attacked, but said that threat was what led to more members increasing their defence spending.
“I took a lot of heat from the media (for making that threat),” Trump said. “And you know what happened? The money started pouring in. That’s why NATO has money.”
U.S. President Joe Biden has taken credit for 23 members now meeting the target, up from just six in 2021, by leading efforts to rally western allies around support for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in 2022.
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