President-elect Donald Trump has reiterated his proposal for Canada to become the 51st U.S. state, calling the idea "great.
Trump wrote on his social network, "Truth Social": "No one can answer the question, why do we support Canada with over $100 million annually? This makes no sense!
He added, "Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state. This would save them a lot in taxes and military protection.
Trump concluded his post by saying, "I think this idea is great... the 51st state!"
Trump first proposed the idea of making Canada the 51st U.S. state in late November 2024, during a dinner at his Mar-a-Lago resort attended by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his team.
In the days following Trump's remarks, Trudeau's ministers tried to downplay the significance of Trump's proposal. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc said, "It was not a serious comment, of course.
Since then, Trump has doubled down on social media posts describing Canada as the 51st U.S. state, even going so far as to refer to Justin Trudeau as the "Governor of the great state of Canada.
Trump claimed that his idea is popular with "many Canadians."
A poll conducted by Léger revealed that 13% of Canadians support this proposal, while 82% of respondents opposed it.
Léger surveyed 1,520 people from December 6 to 9, noting that there is no margin of error in the poll because online surveys are not considered truly random samples.
Trump, who has threatened to impose a 25% tariff on Canadian products exported to the United States, also commented on the resignation of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, which shook Trudeau's leadership earlier this week.
In a post on "Truth Social," Trump wrote: "The state of Canada was stunned by the resignation or firing of Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland by Governor Justin Trudeau. Her behavior was completely toxic and did not lead to any good deals for the very unhappy Canadian citizens. She will not be missed!
Freeland resigned from her position due to disagreements with Trudeau over how to respond to Trump's threat of additional tariffs.
She announced her resignation in a letter to Trudeau on Monday, citing "the serious challenge posed by Trump's policy of aggressive economic nationalism.
She explained that the decision came after Trudeau informed her last week that he no longer wanted her to be his government's chief economic advisor.