Heated words about sovereignty and U.S. trade? Sounds a lot like 1988 [Video]

Donald Trump’s repeated musings about Canada becoming part of the United States have — unsurprisingly — raised hackles in Ottawa.

“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell,” shot back Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, while the Finance Minister Dominic Le Blanc noted, “The joke is over.” Opposition leaders are similarly irked, with Conservative Pierre Poilievre asserting “Canada will never be the 51st state” and New Democrat Jagmeet Singh telling the incoming president to “cut the crap.”

Yet the U.S. president-elect keeps pushing Canada’s buttons. He has suggested the highly integrated economies and trading relationship between the two countries is overrated, and has claimed a trade imbalance means U.S. is subsidizing its northern neighbour’s economy.

In doing this, Trump has highlighted a persistent concern raised by some on this side of the border: namely, that Canada’s national sovereignty is jeopardized by being too closely tied to the United States. 

This isn’t a new concern — in fact, it will be familiar to …