Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is already grappling with a contentious moment for his leadership and Donald Trump is adding fuel to the fire, taunting Trudeau with the prospect of making his country the 51st US state.
Trump’s familiar bullish approach to the United States’s typically friendly foreign leaders has returned full-fledged over the last week as Trudeau faces a leadership crisis amid low approval ratings.
At 3am on Wednesday, Trump hopped on Truth Social to troll the prime minister by doubling down on his pitch to make the U.S.’s northern neighbor the “51st State”.
“No one can answer why we subsidize Canada to the tune of over $100,000,000 a year? Makes no sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st State. They would save massively on taxes and military protection. I think it is a great idea. 51st State!!!” Trump wrote.
Trump has often joked about making Canada a U.S. state – a method seemingly intended to downplay Canada’s worldwide ranking, strength and independence. On Tuesday, he referred to Trudeau as “Governor”.
But Trump’s taunts against Trudeau arise at a particularly bad time for the prime minister. Canadians have become increasingly unhappy with his leadership as the country faces a cost of living crisis and fraught division among liberals and conservatives.
Those concerns escalated more this past week when his finance minister resigned. It’s led Trudeau to, reportedly, consider his own resignation.
The prime minister’s approval rating is currently sitting at around 33 percent, according to an Ipsos poll. That is a dramatic drop from his 55 percent approval rating in May 2020.
Internal concerns have only been elevated by Trump’s threats to impose a 25 percent tariff on goods imported from Canada – despite Canada and the U.S. being each other’s largest trading partners – or implement harsher border restrictions.
Even while knowing the political turmoil going down in Canada, Trump has not let up on his taunts or threats.
