Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
President Donald Trump said Canada could be protected under his theorized Golden Dome missile defense system for $61 billion.
“I told Canada, which very much wants to be part of our fabulous Golden Dome System, that it will cost $61 Billion Dollars if they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post on Tuesday.
Trump’s representatives did not respond to BI’s query about how he arrived at the $61 billion figure. Representatives for the Canadian foreign ministry did not respond to requests for comment from Business Insider.
The ambitious plan, which Trump announced on 20 May, is meant to put American anti-missile weapons into space. Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that the project will be completed within three years, or the end of his term, and would cost about $175 billion.
The system, theoretically, would detect air strikes before they are launched and destroy them.
Trump’s new comments come at a tense time for US-Canada relations. For several months now, Trump has floated the idea of Canada being absorbed into the US and becoming its 51st state.
Canada’s newly minted prime minister, Mark Carney, has been clear on his opinion on the topic, saying Canada is not for sale.
“As you know from real estate, there are some places that are never for sale,” Carney told Trump during their meeting in the Oval Office on May 6.
“And having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it’s not for sale and won’t be for sale ever. But the opportunity is the partnership and what we can build together,” Carney added.
During the meeting, Trump acknowledged that it’s “true” that some places aren’t for sale.
However, he did give Carney a parting shot: “Never say never.”
Canada was also one of the earliest targets of Trump’s tariffs, after Trump imposed a 25% tariff on imports from Canada on March 4.
Canada retaliated with its own 25% tariff on goods from the US. Several Canadian provinces have pulled US-made alcohol off their stores’ shelves and stopped buying new products.
On May 17, Canada’s finance minister, François-Philippe Champagne, said most of the country’s tariffs on US goods are still in place.
“To retaliate against U.S. tariffs, Canada launched largest-ever response — including $60B of tariffs on end-use goods. 70% of those tariffs are still in place,” Champagne said in an X post.
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