Trump Urges Canadians to Vote for Becoming 51st State

Canadians are voting in a federal election today—and President Trump apparently believes they should vote for him. In a post on Truth Social, Trump repeated his call for the US to annex Canada, a move not supported by any of the major—or minor—parties on the ballot. "Good luck to the Great people of Canada," he wrote. "Elect the man who has the strength and wisdom to cut your taxes in half, increase your military power, for free, to the highest level in the World, have your Car, Steel, Aluminum, Lumber, Energy, and all other businesses, QUADRUPLE in size, WITH ZERO TARIFFS OR TAXES, if Canada becomes the cherished 51st. State of the United States of America."

"No more artificially drawn line from many years ago. Look how beautiful this land mass would be," Trump wrote. Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told Trump to butt out, the CBC reports. "President Trump, stay out of our election," he said in a post on X. "The only people who will decide the future of Canada are Canadians at the ballot box. Canada will always be proud, sovereign and independent and we will NEVER be the 51st state." Last week, Trump told Time that he's "really not trolling" with his remarks about Canada.

Analysts say Trump's "51st state" remarks over the last few months did a lot to reverse the fortunes of Prime Minister Mark Carney's Liberals, who were ahead in the polls going into the election. In January, before Trump took office and then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned, the Conservatives were 25 points ahead and they were "in a position to just sip beer and cruise to the finish line and get their majority," Canadian pollster Frank Graves tells ABC News. Whichever party wins will have a new US ambassador to deal with. Former Rep. Pete Hoekstra will arrive in Ottawa on Tuesday, Politico reports. (More Canada stories.)