Trump wants Canada’s economy to ‘collapse’ to make annexation ‘easier’: Trudeau

Trudeau warns of Trump's tariffs to destroy Canada's economy for easier annexation by the United States.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday (March 4, 2025) that President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on Canada to destroy the country's economy to make it easier for the United States to annex its northern neighbour.

The extraordinary warning about Mr. Trump's threat to Canadian sovereignty came as the U.S. president delivered on his vow to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian goods.

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Canada immediately retaliated, triggering a trade war between previously close allies and threatening future commerce across a border that regularly sees billions of dollars in daily trade.

Mr. Trump has said the tariffs are necessary to force Canadian action against what he describes as the flow of undocumented migrants and the drug fentanyl across the border.

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Mr. Trudeau has maintained that Canada is not a significant contributor to either problem in the United States, and on Tuesday (March 4, 2025) called Mr. Trump's fentanyl justification "completely false."