WASHINGTON — U.S. President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he told Canada it would cost $61 billion to join his "Golden Dome" plan for a missile defence shield while returning to his "51st state" rhetoric.
In a post on social media, Trump said Canada will pay billions of dollars to be part of the Golden Dome if "they remain a separate, but unequal, Nation, but will cost ZERO DOLLARS if they become our cherished 51st State."
Trump's post claimed Canada is "considering the offer!"
The Prime Minister’s Office said Tuesday that Prime Minister Mark Carney "has been clear at every opportunity, including in his conversations with President Trump, that Canada is an independent, sovereign nation, and it will remain one."
In a meeting between the president and the prime minister in the Oval Office earlier this month Carney told Trump that Canada will never become a U.S. state.
But during the meeting, which both leaders described as cordial and productive, the president assured reporters he was still keen on annexing Canada.
Trump had seemed to tone down rhetoric towards Canada in recent weeks, and newly minted United States Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra has told multiple Canadian media that he believed talks of annexation were over.
Trump's comments on Tuesday came a few hours after King Charles opened Parliament by delivering a throne speech aimed at unifying Canada and reasserting its sovereignty.
The King was invited to deliver the speech by Carney as a symbolic gesture following months of comments by Trump about turning Canada into a U.S. state. The King said Tuesday that "as the anthem reminds us, the true North is indeed strong and free."
Trump announced aspects of a plan for the complex multilayered system — based on Israel’s “Iron Dome” defence network — earlier this month. Trump said it would cost $175 billion and that it will be completed within his term, which ends in 2029.
Despite Trump's claims, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the space-based components of the program alone could cost as much as $542 billion over the next 20 years.
Carney has repeatedly said Ottawa intends to negotiate a comprehensive new security and economic relationship with the United States.
The Prime Minister’s Office said Carney and his minsters were having wide-ranging discussions with their American counterparts.
Those discussions included strengthening the North American Aerospace Defense Command, or Norad, and other initiatives such as the Golden Dome.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 27, 2025.
Kelly Geraldine Malone, The Canadian Press
