Newly elected President Donald Trump’s repeated claims that he wants Canada to join the United States have become a key part of his presidential transition. But the sentiment — like Trump’s light-hearted confidence about its ease and popularity — is far from new.
Such talk has cropped up virtually throughout American history, often buoyed by the idea that Canadians were clamoring for it too.
In the midst of the War of 1812, President Thomas Jefferson told Philadelphia newspaper editor Thomas Duane that “the acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the vicinity of Quebec, will be but a matter of marching.” (Spoiler alert: That was not the case.) The National Park Service notes in an article about the comment, among other things, that many in the United States wrongly “assumed that the Canadian population would welcome the arrival of American troops.”
According to historian John W. Quist, some degree of pro-annexation sentiment developed within each of the major American political parties later in the 19th century, with the common thread being that the annexation of Canada would “occur peacefully and be managed by the Canadians welcomed’.
And now there is Trump, who writes on social media that “many people in Canada love being the 51st state.”
On Tuesday, he continued the drumbeat at a news conference, telling reporters he could use “economic strength” to take over Canada. “That would really be something,” he continued, adding, “You take away that artificially drawn line and you see what it looks like. And it would also be much better for national security.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said afterward on X: “There is no chance of Canada becoming part of the United States.”
Polls in Canada illustrate a distinct political culture that is very different from that in the United States.”
A September Environics Institute poll found that Canadians favored Vice President Kamala Harris over Trump by a 3-to-1 ratio before the election, although Trump outperformed Joe Biden by the same amount four years ago, especially among younger Canadians. (The poll found that several Canadian conservatives favored him this time, which was not the case in 2020.)
According to Pew Research Center surveys, Canadians have had generally positive opinions of the United States over the past quarter century — but these were never lower than when Trump was president, falling to 35% favorable in 2020 before rebounding after the election of Biden. Polls from the Environics Institute show a similar trend.
Meanwhile, a handful of Canadian politicians and parties have emerged over the years to support annexation by the United States — but those movements have quickly evaporated without gaining much more than a whisper of public support.
And as Montreal Gazette columnist Allison Haines noted in 2018 when writing about one of those quixotic efforts, states like Quebec would be “a very odd fit as the 51st state,” with approval for things like universal health care deeply entrenched in Canadian political culture. (although some polls show increasing interest in reform in Canada), while in the United States it is still a hot topic of debate.
It’s a reminder that the last time the idea of adding new states was in the public sphere, then-Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and others in the Republican Party were quick to warn of the potential political consequences of adding of more Democratic senators. The Environics Institute survey, translated into hypothetical votes, would add millions of anti-Trump voters to the country.
In short, Trump’s rhetorical dreams of a no-brainer match are in reality much more complicated. But he is not the only one in US history to skate past these trivialities and speak of new frontiers in manifest destiny.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
