What will happen between the US and Canada?

[SpidersAreShitheads]

I’m in the U.K. but have been following events in the US with mounting disbelief at Trump’s behaviour.

I see today Trump has increased the tariffs on Canada to 50% and is threatening to stick tariffs on car imports from Canada that will “shut down” their industry. Trump has also reiterated the fact that Canada WILL become part of the US.

Canada has reacted strongly so far and has again today said that there will be a response to the latest tariff announcements.

I have to be honest, much as I understood the U.K. attempt to flatter Trump to try and ease global tensions, there’s a large part of me that’s cheering on Canada’s refusal to back down.

What do people think is likely to happen? Can Canada sustain their “fuck you” response to Trump or will they eventually have to back down? Is there any genuine chance that the US will be able to annexe Canada?

I’d appreciate hearing people’s thoughts as this is all fascinating, albeit awful.

It’s not fascinating. It’s horrifying.

Thanks for starting this thread. I'm also really perplexed by Trump's behaviour here. What is he trying to achieve? Surely he doesn't ACTUALLY want Canada to join the USA as a state? He seems to be antagonising them for nothing - or at least, nothing obvious. A distraction?

It could be a distraction. Equally, it’s a massive landmass extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, all the way up into the Arctic. There are oil reserves and a lot of minerals. Especially the latter. Uranium, nickel… think of the tech industry etc. I guess Alaska wouldn’t be off sitting on its own then.

And a lot of water

I suspect he thinks everyone wants to be part of the US, greatest country on earth and all that. He's probably stunned Canada and Greenland didn't say yes please and immediately change their flags.

What I find terrifying about Trump - and this may be real, or part of a carefully constructed act, I have no idea - is that he seems to start in one pre-agreed policy place, and then starts freestyling off into comments that are palpably untrue, like Ukraine started the war with Russia, or Zelensky is a dictator. The kind of things pissed pub bores say when no one can get a word in edgeways, things that everyone, including the speaker, knows are bollocks, but sound good in the moment. You can imagine him shrieking, Double it! Double it! and... it's doubled.

But he's the president, and once he's spouted this nonsense, world leaders are compelled to respond, it goes on the record, and that gives it legitimacy - and then, in the next conference, he denies ever saying it, yet the damage is done and the Overton window has shifted. I guess that's the point, isn't it? Shifting the Overton window.

No idea what's going to happen with Canada. But it makes the UK's position that bit trickier too.

Is he crazy enough to invade Canada? Would the US army obey or would there be civil war?
He Is so thick he doesn't realise the US car industry gets its parts from Canada and Mexico, the Americans will be paying the tariffs!

I suspect he thinks everyone wants to be part of the US, greatest country on earth and all that. He's probably stunned Canada and Greenland didn't say yes please and immediately change their flags.

This in a nutshell. Americans can't believe the rest of the world don't want to be American too. I have Canadian family and there's no way in hell they want to be any part of the US. If anything, a lot of Canadians would see themselves more as British or European than American.

Yes, you’re absolutely right. Apologies for the clumsy wording - I was waiting for DC and they suddenly appeared so my last sentence was a bit rushed 🫣

It’s like a car crash in slow motion, or possibly not-so-slow motion given the speed of Trump’s tantrums.

When he was elected I was so dismayed and upset I vowed to stay away from US politics for the next four years. But the utter shitshow of events has meant that I’ve ended up following it closely, even though I’m appalled, shocked, and disgusted in equal measure.

I also meant to include a link with my OP but in my rush I forgot to add it. Just for ease in case anyone hasn’t seen the latest dummy spitting from Trump.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cly412xwz44t

The G7 summit is in Alberta, Canada in June. That’ll be interesting (a shit show).

My family is in Canada and USA and all are horrified. My brother says American produce is rotting on the shelves. USA gets a lot of oil from Canada too… seems a weird approach but god knows how his brain works.

Do you remember in 1999 it was possible to have a comedy cartoon movie built around the premise of the US declaring war on Canada because it was such an utterly ludicrous notion?
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I have absolutely no idea what the fuck Trump thinks he is doing.

I did read that Canada has the biggest Ukrainian diaspora after Russia and was the first country to recognise Ukrainian independence so maybe that feeds into it? But I don't know if I am trying to rationalise an essentially mad policy.

The trouble is he is a megalomaniac with a massive ego that expects his demands to be met. The trouble is also that his general knowledge and intelligence don’t match his political ambitions. The result is chaos which is why he has spokesmen (usually good looking women) wheeled out from the Whitehouse to remind the world just what he is doing to make America first.

I agree OP.
I would still reluctantly say that the UK needs to keep relations with Trump civil but still pick their battles (like macron and starter did).

Canada is a different league though, tariffs and 51st state threats its sickening. Although of course commonwealth relations (does Trump even know King Charles/UK is connected to Canada ffs) means we need to tie in there resolutely

Overall I think "the willing" (basically UK, commonwealth countries and the EU) need to work together to cracking on with it. Yes there is lots to untangle, yes we all rely on them heavily at the moment) but it's just not worth the drama. I am sure many from the US might be tempted to join us

*starmer !

Yes, we need to stay out of it.

The EU will quietly be working on becoming stronger together.

We live in Canada - close to the US border. We will never be the 51st state. Trump, his advisors and voters are plain stupid. We’re not Americans, our constitution, culture, values and lifestyle is totally different and we enjoy a much better quality of life.

I wouldn't say completely stay out of it at all. Just basically start working with Canada and other countries collaboratively. US is no longer an ally, we can be civil but move on

Trump has also reiterated the fact that Canada WILL become part of the US.

It's so deranged.

Has he said anything about how he thinks this will happen? Voluntarily? A war?? Getting ideas from his friend Putin..

Do his supporters think he just doesn't mean it? Or is America home to a lot of people who are thinking "yes, great idea, invade Canada".

Do we think there is anyone sensible left in the US administration who can talk Trump down from some of this derangement?

I have wondered whether Trump actually knows Charles is king of Canada as well as the UK. 🤷‍♀️

The invitation for a state visit should be withdrawn by the UK - that would hurt him. He didn’t like Zelenskyy’s recent visit to the King.

Increasingly looking like Trump is suffering from some sort of cognitive issue, which is what one of his former advisors has claimed.

He reminds me of my poor Mum when she first started to shows of this, one day fine, the next... very very weird.

The invitation for a state visit should be withdrawn by the UK - that would hurt him.

I agree - not out of any foot stomping around not liking him, but because Charles is the King of Canada. When Trump says he wants Canada as the 51st state, he is presumably saying he would remove the king. So what sort of farcical state visit would that be.

He's probably not even aware of who Charles is half the time.

I think trump is going to implode before the end of the year. He will spend increasing amounts of time in Palm Beach and the Canada nonsense will go away.