What looks unbelievable can happen if the leadership of a nation is in the hands of leaders with grit and determination. The idea of unification of the United States and adjoining Canada, which together form the bulk of the Americas, is now a subject of public debate after President-elect Donald Trump spoke out in its favour, days before his assumption of office. Canadians cannot ignore this bit of American history where in one treaty, the U.S. annexed the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. It subsequently illegally invaded Indigenous territory in the west. Canada could be the next target perhaps not as the 51st state but possibly as a US territory that would deny Canadians any voting rights for Congress or the presidency and allow only some autonomy, thereby making questions of citizenship ambiguous. The constitutional architecture exists in the U.S. to make it happen.
Donald Trump who will be assuming office as President of the US for the second time on January 20 is known to make outrageous statements. Political observers feel that what Trump says vis a vis Canada is both unthinkable and impossible and dismiss his statements as bellicose rhetoric. Americans have voted Donald Trump despite his past acts of commission and his bluster. But what Trump has just stated about annexing Canada is to be found in the US Constitution. There have been past precedents where the US has acquired territory through cession or subjugation. Further, Trump has also ‘refused to reject’ the possibility of the US annexing mineral-rich Greenland now controlled by Denmark and taking control of the strategically important Panama Canal. Republicans are known for their hard-edged actions while Democrats are doves of peace. A four-year-term of Republicans under Trump could mean action on many fronts. Canada, after 10 years of Justin Trudeau, is already feeling the impact of a Trump re-election after the president-elect threatened to impose higher taxes on imports from there to the US. This, if Canada fails to change its liberal immigration policies. Trudeau’s resignation as PM in itself will not help mend fences between the two nations. Action on the ground by way of checks on a spillover of the immigrants from Canada to the US is what Trump is stressing on.
Donald Trump, who strayed into politics at an advanced age after proving his might as a business tycoon has always confronted his rivals with gusto and his slogan Make America Great Again (MAGA) appears to have paid dividends. Talking about nations coming together and boundaries collapsing, the Berlin Wall was impregnable for many years until winds of change in Europe led to its demolition. This led to the unification of capitalist West Germany and the socialist East Germany in 1989. The integration of Canada and the US might be possible also as the former does not have a strong military that was further weakened under Justin Trudeau.
