Republican lawmakers might not be sure what Donald Trump wants from them at any given moment, but as he prepares to take office, he’s being crystal clear on one point: He wants the United States to “absorb” Canada and make it the newest state.
“Many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State,” Trump wrote in one of his many recent Truth Social posts about claiming Canada. “Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!”
But as great as Trump thinks adding Canada would be, few Republicans are taking him seriously.
In interviews with NOTUS this week, GOP lawmakers brushed off the prospect of annexing Canada, even as some praised Trump for considering it. Other Republicans laughed about it, viewing Trump’s persistent comments about the 51st state as more of a joke than a directive. And a few flatly denied the idea, emphasizing that Canada is an ally to the U.S.
“Canada is not going to become a 51st state,” Rep. Don Bacon told NOTUS. “We are lucky to have over 200 years of a peaceful border with Canada. I’m always for improving our balance of trade, and we can do that as allies.”
Bacon told NOTUS that “all the military takeover talk” from Trump about also claiming Greenland and the Panama Canal is “silly.”
“Greenland and Denmark are our allies. We have a base in Greenland,” he said. “We should work with our ally on the use of the rare minerals.”
As Trump’s global ambitions become clearer, he doesn’t seem to have collaboration in mind. On Tuesday, he refused to rule out using military force to claim Greenland or the Panama Canal, and he expressed confidence about winning over Canada through economic coercion. He called the border between the countries an “artificially drawn line.”
He went on to post multiple maps of “America” on social media — maps that included Canada.
It’s the same kind of expansionist rhetoric that Republicans have roundly condemned whenever the Chinese government has threatened to claim Taiwan, a self-governed island of more than 23 million people.
Some Democrats see a parallel. A longtime China policy hand who has worked for Democratic lawmakers, Todd Stein, said the maps Trump posted of Canada as a part of America were a lot like the manipulated ones the Chinese government publishes with Taiwan included in its territory.
“Are the purportedly pro-Taiwan Republicans going to tell Trump why this is a bad idea and to knock it off, or are they too in thrall to the Leader to stand up for Taiwan?” he wrote on X.
Rep. Ro Khanna, a progressive Democrat who has sought to find common ground with the incoming administration, balked at the idea of continuing American colonialism.
“My grandfather spent years in jail alongside Gandhi fighting against colonialism,” Khanna told NOTUS. “One of the things I’ve admired about the United States is that we don’t occupy other countries and we believe in the self-determination of all people.”
Trump wouldn’t be empowered to unilaterally add Canada to the union, even if its leaders were on board with the effort. Article 4, Section 3 of the Constitution grants that power to Congress, and Republicans in both chambers seem skeptical that their party will seriously pursue statehood.
“Obviously, it’s a sovereign country, so I think that’s highly unlikely,” Rep. Mike Lawler said of the U.S. annexing Canada.
Several Republicans, including Lawler, appeared visibly annoyed to even be fielding questions on the matter.
“I don’t have a lot to tell on that,” Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul said before brushing off a follow-up question.
Sen. Jim Risch, the top Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, also declined to comment. He said he “sometimes” answers questions in the hallway from reporters, “but not on this subject.”
Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania simply laughed at the prospect.
“The president says a lot of interesting things,” Kelly said. “He’s got a pretty busy schedule, whole list of things he wants to get done.”
“He keeps it interesting, doesn’t he?” Kelly said.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who was born in Canada, also said he saw it as a joke.
“He was mostly trolling Trudeau, and it had a remarkably potent effect,” Cruz said of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
But some Republicans took the suggestion much more seriously.
Sen. Kevin Cramer seemed enthusiastic about the idea, though he sounded skeptical it would actually happen. Still, he even suggested adding multiple provinces to the union instead of combining them into just one state.
“It’s gorgeous all the time,” he told reporters of Canada. “It is one of the most spectacular places on Earth.”
“And I wouldn’t mind having their ports, to be honest with you,” he added.
When asked whether Trump’s new vision of manifest destiny is undercutting American messaging against China invading Taiwan, Cramer said the big difference is “China would actually invade Taiwan to put it on their map.”
“We wouldn’t do that to Canada,” he said.
Cramer also told NOTUS that all of this talk isn’t completely unwanted. He claimed he gets “a lot of Canadians calling me and rooting for us.”
(As for Greenland and the Panama Canal? Cramer doesn’t want war, but “it’d be a dang short fight.”)
Sen. Mike Rounds also said he understands why Trump would want to bring “a great friend and a great ally” even closer, though he also told NOTUS he thinks “we will continue to respect Canada’s sovereignty.”
Others praised Trump’s tactical thinking.
“It’s smart of him to realize how strategic they are,” Sen. Ron Johnson said of Canada and Greenland. “I don’t think it’s something to be just laughed off or ridiculed. I mean, these are two very strategic points.”
Sen. Bill Hagerty agreed.
“What President Trump is articulating is a strong national security perspective and making certain that the United States is able to secure the means of transit and the supplies that we need,” he said.
“People like him are successful people for a reason,” Rep. Mike Collins told NOTUS “They’re always looking way down the road and they’re always seeing things that the average person is not looking at yet.”
Sen. Tommy Tuberville likened Trump’s ambition for Canadian statehood to the addition of Hawaii to the union in 1959.
“It’d be like Hawaii, you know. Nice, nice weather,” Tuberville said, adding that he thinks “it’s all about national security.”
Hawaii Sen. Brian Schatz called Tuberville’s remark “one of the most ignorant things I’ve ever heard.”
Schatz didn’t seem convinced that Trump is actually serious, though. He “is very, very skilled at commanding attention, and what he wants people to do is be talking about Greenland while he gives the store to China and develops an economic proposal that rips regular people off,” Schatz told NOTUS, adding that he thinks Trump likes when everyone is distracted and talking about “some bullshit.”
In Canada, Trump’s blustering has been met with a cold shoulder.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Trudeau said in a social media post.
And Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada’s Conservative Party, said that “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period.”
The definitive statements have put some GOP senators in an awkward spot. Sen. Cynthia Lummis said she supports Canada’s self-determination — but she also supports Trump.
“Canada should do what it wants to do,” Lummis said. “But there’s so many exciting opportunities in the world that I think it would be a mistake to dismiss these things as frivolous, because these are transformative times.”
Lummis added that she’s open to “having discussions that are a little out of the box, or maybe way out of the box.”
“It’s just fun!” she said with a laugh.
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Mark Alfred is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow. Haley Byrd Wilt is a reporter at NOTUS.