Donald Trump told Fox News anchor Bret Baier in a Super Bowl pre-game interview that Canada “would be much better off being a 51st state,” as the president continued to insist that his social media musing of a U.S. annexation of the Great North is a real thing.
“We lose $200 billion a year with Canada, and I’m not going to let that happen,” Trump said. “It’s too much. Why are we paying $200 billion a year, essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now, if they are a 51st state, I don’t mind doing it.”
The U.S. does not provide a $200 billion subsidy to Canada, but it appears that Trump was referring to the trade deficit with the country, which is not the same thing. In December, the goods and services trade deficit was $98.4 billion, per the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
In what aired on Sunday, what Baier’s interview lacked were followups, as he ran through a list of questions for a roughly seven-minute time-frame, moving from topics like Elon Musk, to the court challenges to DOGE’s access to federal agencies, to tariff policy, to who Trump thinks will win the big game. After some hedging, Trump went with the Kansas City Chiefs.
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More of the Trump interview will air on Monday on Baier’s Special Report, so it’s unclear if another point will be addressed: An overwhelming majority of Canadians do not want to become the 51st state, nor do most Americans, according to a recent poll. In Canada, Trump’s talk seems to have also solidified opposition against it.
In talking about annexation and tariffs, Trump seemed to be drawing his inspiration in part from 1995’s Michael Moore’s Canadian Bacon invasion satire and the Blame Canada themed South Park: Bigger, Longer, Uncut movie of 1999.
Usually quick to respond to Trump taunts and policy measures, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau was oddly silent on social media Sunday after the Fox interview. Mark Carney, the leading contender to take over the Liberal Party and the prime minister’s office from Trudeau in the next few months, was online. However, the former Governor of the Bank of Canada and the Bank of England spent timing posting about support he is receiving from members of Parliament and not the attack on Canada’s sovereignty.
Super Bowl pregame interviews with the president have become somewhat of a tradition since 2009, often mixing a few hard-hitting questions with true softballs.
Baier did press the then-ex president in contentious interview in June, 2023, which caused Trump to lash out. This time, around, it was a light touch, as when Baier asked him about the challenge to Musk’s team as it moves through the federal government with little transparency.
“Some of your plays have raised some questions and had some pushbacks,” Baier said to Trump. “Nineteen states attorneys general filed a lawsuit and early Saturday a judge agreed with them to restrict Elon Musk and his government efficiency team DOGE from accessing Treasury Department payment and data systems. They said there was a risk of irreparable harm. What do you make of that? And does that slow you down in what you want to do?”
Trump responded, “I disagree with that 100%. I think it’s crazy. And we have to solve the efficiency problem. We have to solve the fraud, waste and abuse, or the other things that have gone into the government.” Trump went on to suggest that there may be “kickbacks” at USAID, but he didn’t offer any evidence.
The president did profess his trust in Musk, who he said he will tell to check out the Department of Education, which has long been in the crosshairs of the right. Then they will go to the military. “We’re going to find hundreds of billions of dollars of fraud and abuse,” Trump said. But there are obvious questions — not asked during the portion of this interview that aired today — of Musk’s conflict of interest as a government contractor and Trump’s appointment of him to lead DOGE.
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