Trump has said Canada should be the 51st state. Today, he meets its prime minister
President Trump is set to meet Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the White House Tuesday after Trump’s steep tariffs and harsh comments about making Canada the “51st state” created tension between the two neighbors and allies.
Carney, the leader of the center-left Liberal Party, won Canada’s election last week in a campaign dominated by concerns about Trump’s rhetoric and the impact of tariffs on the country’s trade-dependent economy.
“As I’ve been warning for months, America wants our land, our resources, our water, our country,” Carney told supporters on election night. “These are not idle threats. President Trump is trying to break us so America can own us. That will never, ever happen.”
Trump has repeatedly floated the idea of annexing Canada and using “economic force” to do so. In an interview with NBC’s Kristen Welker that aired Sunday, Trump said it was “highly unlikely” that the U.S. would use military force, but “it could happen.”
“If Canada was a state, it wouldn’t cost us,” Trump told NBC. “It would be great. It would be such a great — it would be a cherished state.”
Trump often cites U.S. trade deficits with Canada as justification for making it the 51st state. His administration has imposed a 25% tariff on many Canadian goods.
Trump — who has noted more than once that Carney’s party failed to win a majority in Parliament — downplayed the meeting on Monday.
“He’s coming to see me. I’m not sure what he wants to see me about, but I guess he wants to make a deal. Everybody does. They all want to make a deal because we have something that they all want,” Trump said.
It’s the chance for a reset in the relationship
Carney is a former central banker who took over after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January. Their party was down in the polls until Trump started talking about annexation, raising the ire of Canadians.
“President Trump single-handedly helped the Liberal Party recover from a very large popular-opinion deficit in Canada to win the election, ironically,” said Jon Parmenter, a professor of history at Cornell University.
“It’s quite shocking to see the extent to which that attitude [toward the U.S.] has changed in response to the initiatives that the Trump administration has taken since Inauguration Day,” Parmenter said.
Trade is likely to be a topic of discussion between the two leaders, but Carney signaled in a news conference last week that Tuesday’s meeting would be only the start of negotiations.
Carney’s willingness to stand up to Trump’s rhetoric was a big part of his appeal to voters, said Asa McKercher, a public policy professor at St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia — describing the “elbows up” slogan adopted by Carney’s campaign. It’s a hockey term used to describe a defensive stance.
Tuesday’s meeting could be an opportunity to “reset the relationship” between the U.S. and Canada, “because it’s pretty bad,” McKercher said. “Canadians are really upset at the president of the United States.”
How Alabama Power kept bills up and opposition out to become one of the most powerful utilities in the country
In one of the poorest states in America, the local utility earns massive profits producing dirty energy with almost no pushback from state regulators.
No more Elmo? APT could cut ties with PBS
The board that oversees Alabama Public Television is considering disaffiliating from PBS, ending a 55-year relationship.
Nonprofit erases millions in medical debt across Gulf South, says it’s ‘Band-Aid’ for real issue
Undue Medical Debt has paid off more than $299 million in medical debts in Alabama. Now, the nonprofit warns that the issue could soon get worse.
Roy Wood Jr. on his father, his son and his new book
Actor, comedian and writer Roy Wood Jr. is out with a new book -- "The Man of Many Fathers: Life Lessons Disguised as a Memoir." He writes about his experience growing up in Birmingham, losing his dad as a teenager and all the lessons he learned from various father figures throughout his career.
Auburn fires coach Hugh Freeze following 12th loss in his last 15 SEC games
The 56-year-old Freeze failed to fix Auburn’s offensive issues in three years on the Plains, scoring 24 or fewer points in 17 of his 22 league games. He also ended up on the wrong end of too many close matchups, including twice this season thanks partly to questionable calls.
In a ‘disheartening’ era, the nation’s former top mining regulator speaks out
Joe Pizarchik, who led the federal Office of Surface Mining Reclamation and Enforcement from 2009 to 2017, says Alabama’s move in the wake of a fatal 2024 home explosion increases risks to residents living atop “gassy” coal mines.
