U.S. President Donald Trump returned to his long-standing talk of annexing Canada during an unusual address to top military leaders on Tuesday.
The president was discussing his “Golden Dome” missile defense plans in front of officials who had been abruptly summoned from postings around the world to Quantico, near Washington.
“Canada called me a couple of weeks ago, they want to be part of it, to which I said, ‘Well, why don’t you just join our country. You become 51 — become the 51st state — and you get it for free,’” Trump told the assembled officials.
“So, I don’t know if that made a big impact, but it does make a lot of sense.”
Trump added that Canada is having “a hard time up there” because “as you know, with tariffs, everyone’s coming into our country.” He also boasted about investment leaving Canada and other nations and flowing into the United States, pointing to automobile plants as an example.
Trump has spent months repeatedly suggesting the annexation of Canada, even hinting at using economic measures to achieve it. That rhetoric had quieted in recent months as Ottawa worked to reduce tensions and Trump shifted his focus elsewhere globally.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has held multiple phone calls with Trump over the past few months but has been tight-lipped about their content.
Carney paused Canada’s digital services tax in June after Trump threatened to halt trade negotiations to protest the policy. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt later claimed that “Canada caved to President Trump and the United States of America.”
Two months later, Carney removed certain retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods to match American exemptions under the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement (CUSMA). This followed another call with Trump, who assured him the move would help jump-start trade negotiations.
Despite Ottawa’s attempts to appease the Trump administration, no trade deal has been finalized to ease pressure on Canadian industries impacted by tariffs.
In August, Trump imposed 35 percent tariffs on Canadian goods not compliant under CUSMA, along with tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles, and copper. Looming lumber tariffs will also hit the Canadian industry hard. This week, Trump signed an executive order putting a 10 percent tariff on foreign softwood lumber and timber, and a 25 percent tariff on kitchen cabinets, vanities, and upholstered wooden furniture, effective Oct. 14. Earlier this year, the U.S. Commerce Department increased countervailing and anti-dumping duties on Canadian lumber.
The Prime Minister’s Office did not comment on Trump’s Tuesday speech. Carney met with Trump at the White House in May and made it clear Canada would never become an American state. He also confirmed high-level discussions are underway with the U.S. regarding the Golden Dome program. Trump initially claimed it would cost Canada US$61 billion to join, later raising the price to US$71 billion.
Trump highlighted the planned multilayered defense system — modeled after Israel’s Iron Dome — during his extensive remarks to hundreds of top military officials.
Accustomed to boisterous rally crowds, Trump received little reaction from the military audience, who, in keeping with the non-partisan tradition of the U.S. armed forces, remained largely silent during the speech.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had summoned military leaders from across the globe to Quantico on Tuesday to hear Trump deliver remarks railing against “woke” policies.
