U.S. President Donald Trump returned to his “51st state” rhetoric about Canada while giving a rare speech to top military leaders today.
The president was speaking about his “Golden Dome” missile defence plans in front of military officials who had been abruptly summoned to Quantico, near Washington.
Trump told the assembly that “Canada called” a few weeks ago to ask to be part of the missile defence shield.
Trump said he replied that Canada should join the United States to get it for free.
His story was identical to the one he told in May, shortly after he first announced the estimated US$175-billion “Golden Dome” project. At that time, he said Canada would have to pay US$61 billion to join the new defence network unless it becomes the 51st U.S. state.
He said again in early September that “Canada called” and asked to be part of the “Golden Dome” system.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney and Defence Minister David McGuinty have said Canada is interested in joining as part of a larger security agreement that the two governments have spent months trying to negotiate along with a new trade deal.
Trump also claimed Tuesday that Canada is having a hard time because tariffs are bringing business to the United States.
An Ipsos poll conducted exclusively for Global News and released last week found 56 per cent of respondents said they have bought Canadian products or investments in the past two weeks as a result of the trade tensions between Canada and the United States. Nearly 60 per cent said they had gone out of their way to avoid American products.
A separate Ipsos poll showed Canadians are losing their sense of trust in the U.S. as a result of trade tensions.
Carney has had multiple calls with the U.S. president over the past few months but has been tight-lipped about the substance of those conversations.
After Carney and Trump met in the White House in early May, Carney said Trump had agreed to stop referring to Canada as the “51st state.”
Louisiana Lt.-Gov. Billy Nungesser, a Republican, said this week that Trump should apologize to Canada for his “51st state” comments as well as his tariffs on Canadian goods, which he said “have really left a bad taste in Canadians’ mouths.”
—With additional files from Global News
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