Trump's plan for Canada: The whole country or just the Arctic islands? American experts on Caliber.Az

The U.S. president announced new measures against Canada in response to the 25% electricity tax imposed by the Canadian province of Ontario on the United States.

Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social, that he had instructed the Secretary of Commerce to raise tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum to 50% and did not rule out the imposition of further restrictions. He also demanded that Canada immediately reduce tariffs on American dairy products, calling them outrageous.

Trump stated that if Canada does not eliminate additional obvious and long-standing tariffs, he will significantly raise tariffs on cars imported to the U.S. on April 2, which would effectively end car production in Canada. 

He further suggested that the only logical solution would be for Canada to become the 51st state of the U.S.

"This would make all Tariffs, and everything else, totally disappear,” Trump wrote. “Canadians taxes will be very substantially reduced, they will be more secure, militarily and otherwise, than ever before, there would no longer be a Northern Border problem, and the greatest and most powerful nation in the World will be bigger, better and stronger than ever — And Canada will be a big part of that," wrote the U.S. president.

So, Trump is once again proposing that Canada join the United States. What benefits could this bring to the U.S. from a political and economic standpoint? And what advantages might this have for Canada?

Prominent American experts shared their opinions on this issue with Caliber.Az.

Political analyst John Varoli notes that the situation is developing very quickly.

"Just recently, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt also mentioned that the president really wants Canada to join the United States as the 51st state. Before her, Trump himself issued quite stern warnings to Ottawa. He said that if they don’t back down, if they take any more drastic steps, like raising tariffs or stopping the electricity supply from Ontario, then he promises epic consequences. It is now clear that Trump is serious when he talks about the need to annex Canada and Greenland.

What needs to be done to achieve this goal? Of course, it will require confirmation from the Canadian Senate, approval from the Canadian government. But at this point in time, everything really seems possible," the expert believes.

He suggests that Trump may have the idea of creating a new great northern state, consisting of the U.S., Canada, and Greenland.

"I believe he wants to create a country that would be roughly the size of Russia.

As for the benefits that Canada would gain in this case, one key advantage would be full access to the American market.

It’s important to note that under Justin Trudeau’s liberal regime, unfortunately, freedom of speech in Canada has come to an end. If Canada joins us, the people will also benefit because Canada will receive the constitutional guarantees of the United States. This is something they generally don’t have. In other words, Canadians will gain full human rights guarantees. This is precisely what they didn’t have under Trudeau, who managed to create an entirely totalitarian, repressive state," Varoli remarked.

Political analyst Andrew Korybko, in turn, stated that Trump seems to have the idea of either weakening the Canadian economy as a first step toward annexation or, at the very least, forcing it into what he called a fairer trade deal, which would be much more beneficial for the U.S.

"Trump doesn’t want another 40 million, mostly liberal, Canadian voters on the next U.S. election rolls, so any hypothetical annexation would have Canada gaining wide autonomy, but without federal representation or the right to participate in federal elections.

In any case, it’s important to understand why Trump has repeatedly mentioned annexing Canada. Perhaps he’s not as interested in the entirety of the northern neighbor’s territory joining the U.S., but only its Arctic islands, which are reported to have abundant energy and mineral resources. They are also becoming increasingly important as polar ice continues to melt, opening up new shipping routes between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans," the analyst explained.

Therefore, he says, it is quite possible that Trump will eventually try to reach some sort of compromise with Canada.

"The result of this could be an agreement between the parties on tariff disputes, and in that case, Trump would stop talking about turning Canada into the 51st U.S. state, but in exchange, he would demand unofficial or official control over its Arctic islands, possibly including part of its northern coastline.

Almost no one lives there, and the territory is very poorly defended, so the U.S. could potentially gain control over these areas quickly and without much trouble. However, Trump would prefer to reach a political agreement with Canada, as the use of brute military force could turn Canadians into lifelong and possibly multi-generational enemies of the U.S.," Korybko noted.