Trump’s 51st state is joking with a bullying technique, says former adviser to Trudeau

It’s Donald Trump’s new favorite line: The US should annex Canada to erase the US trade deficit with its neighbor to the north.

There is no serious movement in either country for such a thing. However, the incoming US president has repeated variations of the joke at least half a dozen times in two and a half weeks. He has also taken to calling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau the “governor” of America’s supposed “51st state.”

It’s not entirely clear whether it’s all just meant as a negotiating tactic to keep Canada off balance, indicating genuine irritation with an ally that Mr. Trump has long accused of cheating the United States – or something else entirely.

But it shows a clear fixation from the president-elect on Canada — and the trade deficit in particular — with little more than a month to go before he returns to the White House.

Mr. Trump posted the latest version of the jibe on social media at 3:23 a.m. ET Wednesday.

“No one can answer why we subsidize Canada over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state,” he wrote on his Truth Social platform. “They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it’s a good idea. 51st state!!!”

The president-elect made the “51st state” comment to Mr. Trudeau’s face at their Mar-a-Lago dinner late last month. He has since repeated it several times on Truth Social and once in an NBC interview where he also talked about annexing Mexico.

Mr. Trump threatens to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian and Mexican goods when he takes office on Jan. 20, to remain in place until the countries stop migrants and fentanyl from crossing their borders into the United States

However, he has also repeatedly brought up the trade deficit, which most economists dismiss as unimportant, but Mr. Trump seems to consider a scorecard for economic success. The figure is not a “subsidy” to Canada: it is caused by Canadian exports of crude oil to the United States, which does not produce enough to meet its own demand.

Roland Paris, a former foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trudeau, said that Mr. Trump’s needle on Canada is a form of bullying technique that he has used time and time again throughout his political career.

During the 2016 primaries, for example, Mr. Trump Senator Marco Rubio as “Little Marco.” Now he is Mr. Trump’s candidate for Secretary of State.

“He identifies sensitive points and he goes after them. That’s the behavior of the bully, and that’s the man that we’re going to have to deal with for the next four years,” said Prof. Paris, who is director of the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs.

Opinion: What Trump is doing to Trudeau is a tried and tested humiliation tactic

During his earlier tenure, Mr. Trump reportedly to sell Puerto Rico and buy Greenland. Neither idea went anywhere.

Earlier this month, Gerald Butts, Mr. Trudeau’s former principal secretary, that Mr. Trump’s Canadian annexation joke is not new either.

“Trump used this 51st State line all the time with Trudeau in his first term. He does it to rattle Canadian cages. When someone wants you to freak out, don’t,” he wrote on the social network Bluesky.

Mr. Trump accompanied his comment with more personal language after Chrystia Freeland resigned as deputy prime minister and finance minister. He vented frustrations with her negotiating tactics from the 2017 and 2018 negotiations that led to the US-Mexico-Canada agreement. “Her behavior was completely toxic,” he wrote. “She will not be missed!!!”

Mr. Trump and Mr. Trudeau also did not speak for several weeks after a clash over a 2018 G7 summit in Quebec. Mr. Trump also repeatedly accused Canada of being “very rough” and of “taking advantage” of US trade.

Derek Burney, a former Canadian ambassador to the United States who helped negotiate the countries’ original free trade agreement in the 1980s, said Mr. Trump appreciates Canada because of Mr. Trudeau’s weakness. The prime minister faces low poll numbers, a caucus revolt and calls to resign or call a snap election.

“It’s very sad to me what Trump is doing, but he’s a bully and when he sees that he’s got someone who’s fragile — which our prime minister certainly seems to be today — he’s going to work on that,” said Mr. Burney. “He has no allegiance to neighborliness.”

He said Canadian officials should reject taunts, but not make too much of them. “Don’t respond to taunts. Call them out. Say they don’t make sense, that they’re illogical.”

He said that Mr. Trudeau’s comments last week that the prime minister was disappointed that the United States elected another man as president instead of Democratic candidate Kamala Harris were thoughtless. “We cannot allow this president’s mockery of us to knock us off our game.”

On Wednesday, former Quebec Premier Jean Charest said Mr. Trump’s jibes were a wake-up call and should be taken seriously.

“Every Canadian, regardless of their opinion of the Prime Minister or political affiliation, should be deeply offended by President Trump’s remarks,” he tweeted.