The President-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, is adding fuel to the fire of the political chaos in Canada, intensifying a crisis that threatens to overthrow Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trudeau’s Finance Minister, Chrystia Freeland, submitted her resignation on Monday, and Trump later referred to her as toxic, adding that “she will not be missed.”
The virtual trolling against a politician in conflict, who is mocked by being called the governor of "state number 51," is considered by many as an insult to the northern neighbor of the United States and an advance of a bellicose strategy of the next American Union leader.
It was Wednesday morning when Trump suggested once again that Canada should become the 51st state of the United States, with a social media post stating: "Can anyone explain why we subsidize Canada with over 100 million dollars a year? It doesn't make sense! Many Canadians want Canada to become the 51st state. They would save a lot on taxes and military protection. I think it's a great idea. The 51st state!".
In that sense, analyst Stephen Collinson commented to the American television network that "Trump's willingness to get involved in the internal politics of an ally should be a warning to other governments in places like France, Germany, and South Korea, among others, where political chaos and internal divisions could hinder multilateral relations."
Trump has continued to repeat the joke about the 51st state since it was revealed that during his dinner with Justin Trudeau at Mar-a-Lago on November 29, the president-elect told him that "the Canadian economy would collapse with the 25% tariffs he proposes to end the Canadian trade surplus," and that the best thing that could happen is for Canada to become the 51st state of the United States.
At the time, Trudeau was concerned when he heard Trump's suggestion to turn Canada into a state if the US trade deficit, which is around $75 billion annually, is not addressed as requested by the president-elect.
When they told Trump that it might not be a good idea to incorporate Canada because it would be a liberal state within the country, the Republican suggested dividing it into two: a liberal state and a conservative one.
Could Canada join as the 51st state?
It may have started as an informal joke by Donald Trump, the former and future president of the United States, that Canada should become part of the United States of America, but he has revived it time and time again since then, both jokingly and in serious political interviews. This has led many to question whether it is something that would be possible from a legal standpoint.
Regarding this, the Canadian newspaper National Post spoke with Gregory Tardi, president of the Institute of Parliamentary and Political Law of Canada, who said that a method to unite the two countries would be through constitutional and legal means, and if Canada as a whole or some parts of the country wanted to join the United States, they would have to go through Section 41 of the Constitutional Act of 1982.
That is to say, the Senate, the House of Representatives, and the legislatures of the 10 provinces would have to give consent for Canada to exit a particular jurisdiction. In other words, it is a very unlikely scenario.
"Even if a province were to obtain that approval, it could not automatically become part of the United States. That would be another process based on Article IV, Section 3, Clause 1 of the United States Constitution, which essentially states that through a vote by the United States Congress, new territories can be incorporated and become states," the specialist explained.
And that has not happened in many decades. The most recent examples were Hawaii (August 1959), Alaska (January 1959), and Arizona (February 1912). In that sense, the District of Columbia has been trying to achieve statehood for decades, an option that Puerto Rico has also been considering for some years.
The second possibility is through purchase. Many of the United States states were bought, such as Louisiana. This is how the states on the western side of the Mississippi River first became territories and then states.
During his first term, Trump said in 2019 that he wanted Denmark to sell Greenland to the United States. The world did not take him seriously. When Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen responded that it was an "absurd" idea, the president last-minute canceled a State visit to Denmark accusing Frederiksen of being "nasty".
It doesn't seem like Canada is for sale, or parts of Canada, so it is also an unlikely scenario.
The third option would be a direct invasion. In 1845, the United States forcibly annexed a state that had previously been an independent country: Texas in 1845.
In summary, it is unlikely that the United States will succeed in making Canada the 51st state in the near future, just as it is unlikely that Donald Trump will stop joking about it.
The case of Nuevo León?
Another "independence" that is making headlines this week is that of Nuevo León. Last Monday, the State Electoral and Citizen Participation Institute of Nuevo León (IEEPCNL) resolved the notice of intention submitted by Gilberto de Jesús Lozano González on November 20 to carry out a popular consultation on the independence of Nuevo León.
The question posed by Lozano is: "Would you agree that the state of Nuevo León should be an independent country?"
The General Council of the IEEPCNL indicated that, if the proposal meets the legal requirements and is deemed admissible by the Superior Court of Justice of Nuevo León, the consultation could take place on the first Sunday of August 2026.
To advance in the process, it was approved that Gilberto Lozano can collect signatures of citizen support through the mobile application of the National Electoral Institute (INE).
The use of the application will be enabled until July 31, 2025, and Lozano must gather the support of at least 2% of the people registered in the electoral roll of Nuevo León, which currently totals 4,484,528 people. In other words, Lozano will need to gather a minimum of 89,691 supporting signatures.
However, Antonio de la Barrera Fernández, an international consultant expert in geopolitical issues, stated that it would be an unconstitutional act that could be classified as seditious, given that the secession of a federative entity is not contemplated in the Constitution of the United Mexican States.
From their point of view, no state can separate itself from the Federal Pact contemplated in Articles 40 to 45, which establish the federal nature of Mexico and the sovereignty of the states in all matters concerning their internal regime.
He explained that they would be going against what was established in the founding act signed by the 19 existing states in 1824, including Nuevo León, after the end of the Mexican Empire.
Similarly, Article 2 of the Constitution specifies that the Mexican Nation is unique and indivisible. In other words, there is no institutional method by which a state can achieve independence.
We tried to contact Gilberto Lozano to clarify the purpose of the consultation, possible binding scenarios, and whether the goal is to turn Nuevo León into another state of the United States, but we did not receive a response by the deadline for our edition.
It is worth noting that Gilberto de Jesús Lozano González is a Mexican entrepreneur who describes himself as a citizen activist and social leader. He was the founder of the National Citizen Congress (CONACI) and the National Anti-AMLO Front (FRENA), which are the initials of the former Mexican president Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Additionally, he is the leader of the Regia Republic initiative in Nuevo León.
On his X account, where he mentions being pro-family, pro-life, and anti-socialists, he states that his job is "sweeping the trash of Mexico."