Incoming US President Donald Trump’s threat to use “economic power” to turn the world’s second-largest country into part of the United States poses the most serious threat to Canadian sovereignty since the War of 1812. There is.
The conflict lasted three years, and American forces launched ten separate land invasions of Canada before a peace treaty was ratified in 1815.
While the idea that the United States would seek to annex its northern neighbor, much like the War of 1812 itself, is left in the mists of time, Mr. Trump has now made territorial expansion a key part of his presidency.
In the guise of a 19th-century American president who bought land or bullied his way to the African continent’s west coast, Mr. Trump floated a proposal to acquire Greenland and the Panama Canal by force, and if not, Canada. threatened to financially destroy it. his way.
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Trump will be inaugurated on Monday, January 20th.
“Canada and the United States: It’s really going to be something,” the president-elect said at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago.
“We don’t need their cars. You know, they make 20 percent of our cars…We don’t need their wood. We have vast lumber We have fields… We don’t need their dairy products. We have more than they have.
Mr. Trump did not run for president on the platform of annexing Canada, but since winning the election he has regularly expressed the idea of making Canada the “51st state.”
Donald Trump posts a map on his Truth social platform showing Canada as part of the United States
In Canada, leaders and analysts simply laughed at the response or characterized his actions as a “negotiation tactic.”
But now no one is laughing.
Outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau ended his ineffective charm attack on X by saying, “It’s not a snowball’s chance that Canada will become part of the United States.”
Leaders of the country’s other major political parties also issued statements defending Canada’s sovereignty.
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Most of Canada’s 40 million people live within about 100 miles of the U.S. border, and Canada has a fairly successful relationship with the United States.
This year, Canada is set to have a trade surplus of $70bn (£57bn), which will be split between the things Mr Trump mentioned in his press conference (timber and cars) and the things he didn’t mention (oil and gas).
Canada also benefits greatly from its security partnership with the United States. While Americans buy tanks, planes, and nuclear submarines, Canadians buy schools (some of the best in the world), health care (comprehensive and publicly funded), and pensions (generous and well-invested). The company is investing money in
Trump called Canadians “good neighbors” at a press conference, but the real estate mogul knows when he sees weakness and seems prepared to make his neighbors suffer.
The issue raises important questions as Canadians prepare for the spring federal election. How much pain are they willing to suffer? After all, what does it mean to be Canadian?
They can draw strength from the War of 1812. A small group of British soldiers, local militia, and Native Americans held off the American forces, and the two countries fought each other to the point of a draw (a process that resulted in the burning of the White House in Washington and much of Toronto).
Canada would do well to achieve a draw this time.
