US Asks to Annex Canada with Force Claim Debunked

As of this writing, Trump has not publicly suggested the use of military force to annex Canada.

President-elect Trump said Tuesday he was not considering using military force to make Canada part of the United States after repeatedly musing about the idea of the country becoming the 51st state…

Justin Trudeau has rejected threats from Donald Trump that the US could use “economic force” to annex its closest ally, saying: “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.

On Tuesday, he continued the drumbeat at a news conference, telling reporters he could use “economic force” to acquire Canada. “That would really be something,” he continued, adding: “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and ...

Asked again if he would rule out the use of military force, he said: “I’m not going to commit to that. You might have to do something.” · Mr. Trump’s statements propelled his repeated calls for expanding American territory to a new level, one that is bound to roil three American allies — Panama; Denmark, which handles Greenland’s foreign and security affairs; and Canada, which he has mocked as America’s “51st State.” On Tuesday he made clear, though, that he was not joking, suggesting that if Canada remained a sovereign state the financial cost to its trading relationship with the United States could be crushing.

Many in Britain, such as Goldwin ... Times said that Britain would only object if the United States attempted to take the territory by force. Most Canadians were strongly opposed to the prospect of American annexation. Reports of the Annexation Bill of 1866 — a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives that, contrary to myth, never came to a vote — might have been one of the many factors behind Canadian ...

Some polls have also been conducted asking American opinions on Canada being annexed as the 51st state. An Angus Reid poll reported 49% of Americans opposing the proposal and 25% supporting it, with 26% being unsure. Only half of the Americans surveyed said that Canada should be granted full statehood if they chose to join; 77% said that Canada should have the right to decide for themselves whether to join the United States or not and 5% said that it should be by economic force...

The United States seems now to have turned against the principles it once championed. But those principles remain the foundation of both the international legal order and Canada’s laws. American attempts to force annexation by economic means are being met with strong resistance from our political leaders and the public.

Seward tried asking for parts of the colony as payment for damage claims that the U.S. brought against Great Britain after the Civil War. Those efforts failed. Illinois Representative Green B. Raum said in 1868 he thought British Columbia would “drop into our hands like a ripe pear.” In a report published that year, Seward expressed hopes of acquiring Greenland and Iceland—and that doing so might entice Canada to join.