Canada holds federal elections and Trump brings up "annexation" again

Canada held its 45th Federal House of Representatives election on Monday (April 28). On the same day, US President Trump once again proposed the idea of "swallowing up" Canada, encouraging it to become the "51st state" of the United States.

Trump posted on social media on Monday morning, calling on Canadian voters to elect "a powerful and wise person", and said that as long as Canada becomes the "51st state cherished by the United States", the tax rate can be halved, the military power can be "freely upgraded to the world's peak", and the scale of industries such as automobiles, steel, aluminum, wood and energy will quadruple, while achieving zero tariffs.

Trump wrote: "Don't be bound by the boundaries demarcated by our predecessors many years ago." Look how beautiful this land would be if it were combined as one! Complete freedom of movement, with no more boundaries to block. It has all benefits and no drawbacks. It should have been like this! He also said that the United States can no longer provide hundreds of billions of dollars in subsidies to Canada every year as it did in the past. Unless Canada becomes a state of the United States, the subsidies are "meaningless".

Trump has publicly stated on multiple occasions before that Canada should become the 51st state of the United States, claiming that this goal will be achieved through "economic power". The relevant remarks have sparked widespread opposition in Canada. Canadian public opinion generally believes that this may prompt some voters to cast their ballots for the party regarded as more capable of dealing with Trump's policy stance.

In this Canadian federal election, the party that wins half or more of the seats will have the right to form a majority government. In the past five federal general elections, the Conservative Party won twice and the Liberal Party won three times. This election is expected to still be a fierce competition between the two major political parties.