Trump effect: How US tariffs, 51st state threats are shaking up Canada | Donald Trump News [Video]

Montreal, Canada – Even before he formally re-entered the White House last month to begin his second term as president of the United States, Donald Trump had repeatedly taken aim at an unlikely target: Canada.

Trump argued his country’s northern neighbour had failed to stem irregular migration and drug trafficking at its border with the US, and he threatened to impose steep tariffs on Canadian imports.

To stave off those measures, which experts say would devastate the Canadian economy, the Republican leader then presented an idea: Canada can — and should — become the 51st US state.

“I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state,” the US president repeated in a Fox News interview that aired over the weekend, continuing a pressure campaign that initially ramped up in December.

Though the proposal was widely denounced, Trump’s comments — and his continued threatto levy tariffs of 25 percent or higher on Canadian goods, including steel and aluminium imports — …