Unpacking Trump's latest broadside about Canada as a '51st state'

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Wednesday once again posted favourably about Canada becoming the 51st state, calling it a "great idea."

"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," he posted on Truth Social. "They would save massively on taxes and military protection."

Trump has made a series of statements and social media posts since his Nov. 5 election win mocking Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, previously referring him to as "governor" of the 51st state.

Earlier this week, Trump reacted to the stunning resignation of Chrystia Freeland from cabinet, calling her "toxic."

Freeland was intensively involved in trade talks with U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer during Trump's first term. The pair, along with a top Mexican official, signed the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement, or CUSMA, in 2019, updating the previous North American Free Trade Agreement. 

Trump has threatened that when he becomes president next month he will impose massive tariffs on all goods from Canada unless it stops the flow of migrants and illegal drugs into the U.S.

While some suggest Trump is just engaged in trolling, others suggest the threat is an effective political tactic.

"It's to dominate and intimidate, he's been very successful at using those strategies, and typical politicians don't usually know how to respond," Jennifer Mercieca, Texas A&M communications professor and author of Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump, told CBC News recently.

Mercieca said Trump's humour has the consequence of creating an "in group and out group," putting people into different divisions.

It's not specifically clear where the $100,000,000 came from that Trump is quoting, though it appears he is repeating a figure that is seven years old.

The Washington Post reported at the time that it appeared to come from Lighthizer misinterpreting a Statistics Canada data that revealed a $98-billion merchandise trade deficit. The figure did not take into account trade in services.

Trump has long been chagrined by U.S. trade deficits with other countries, though some economists argue that a trade deficit alone does not offer a full accounting of the health of an economy.

"A larger trade deficit can be the result of a stronger economy, as consumers spend and import more while higher interest rates make foreign investors more eager to place their money in the United States," said the think-tank Council on Foreign Relations in a 2019 report.

Previous U.S. presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama urged NATO alliance members to bolster domestic defence spending, and in 2014, NATO members agreed to commit two per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defence spending over the subsequent decade. At the time, Canada was spending only 0.9 percent of its GDP on defence.