{"id":17959,"date":"2025-02-23T16:28:30","date_gmt":"2025-02-23T16:28:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/23\/trumps-51st-state-talk-almost-never-comes-up-in-d-c-canadas-envoy-national\/"},"modified":"2025-02-23T16:28:30","modified_gmt":"2025-02-23T16:28:30","slug":"trumps-51st-state-talk-almost-never-comes-up-in-d-c-canadas-envoy-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/torontotribune.ca\/index.php\/2025\/02\/23\/trumps-51st-state-talk-almost-never-comes-up-in-d-c-canadas-envoy-national\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump\u2019s 51st state talk \u2018almost never\u2019 comes up in D.C.: Canada\u2019s envoy – National"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

U.S. President Donald Trump\u2019s<\/a> repeated calls for Canada to become the 51st state aren\u2019t being echoed by other Republicans in Washington, Canada\u2019s ambassador to the U.S. says, though Trump\u2019s allies aren\u2019t disavowing the president\u2019s rhetoric either.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ambassador Kirsten Hillman says her private conversations with members of the Trump administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill remain focused on building the Canada-U.S. relationship under Trump and showing progress on border security in order to avoid looming tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor me here in Washington, (Canada\u2019s sovereignty) almost never comes up in the substantive conversations that I\u2019m having with the White House,\u201d Hillman told Mercedes Stephenson in an interview that aired Sunday on\u00a0The West Block<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople aren\u2019t going to be contradicting their president, of course, but it isn\u2019t part of our everyday work that we\u2019re working on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump has said he wants to use \u201ceconomic force\u201d to make Canada join the U.S., citing what he says is a massive imbalance in trade and security spending, among other issues.<\/p>\n

\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

His allies like former advisor Steve Bannon have said<\/a> such talk is actually about pursuing hemispheric control to protect the Arctic and other economic corridors from great powers like China and Russia.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Click
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

When the issue does come up, Hillman says she makes clear that Trump\u2019s rhetoric \u201cis not at all appreciated by Canadians, and it\u2019s not at all constructive or conducive to actually leading to hemispheric security, to leading to a relationship whereby we are willing and very enthusiastic partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Get\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n
\n

Get daily National news<\/h3>\n

Get the day’s top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cRepublicans on the Hill \u2026 but also in the administration, I think that they see that,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it is a comment that the president keeps making. As you can imagine \u2014 and it\u2019s true in any country \u2014 there\u2019s no real appetite to have a public debate about something that their president is continuing to talk about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

Hillman said the conversations she and her team are having with U.S. officials are part of the non-stop, \u201call hands on deck\u201d approach to shoring up relations with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

While there\u2019s already a relationship with Trump himself and some holdovers from his first administration, she said there are many key people this time around who are not just new to politics and Washington, but also Canada-U.S. relations.<\/p>\n

She cited Howard Lutnick, Trump\u2019s new commerce secretary who will oversee trade and tariff policy \u2014 who has been openly supportive of broad tariffs and critical of Canadian trade practices<\/a> \u2014 as an example of someone her team is focused on.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s open to understanding our perspective,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat has been a big part of the last three or four weeks, is getting all of that data and information in front of the right people at the White House who are in the essential cabinet positions.\u201d<\/p>\n