“We are going to be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America…The Gulf of America, what a beautiful name, it’s appropriate…And we’re going to put very serious tariffs on Mexico and Canada”. On January 7th, President Donald Trump commented on Canada joining the US as its 51st state. “You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be good for national security”. Naturally, a name of a state or an official name or a city is changed for vernacular preferences or historical altercations, Yogi Adityanath is frequent in this desire, while Trump is restless. It passes the borders of nationalism, “pushing an imperialist agenda by threatening to seize Greenland and the Panama Canal” not to mention the economic coercion he will be using on Canada, which he stated outright, about the nation’s two largest trade partners. Trump’s responses casually redefining the border as if it can be redrawn on a whim poses a threat to the desires of other nations in doing the same especially in regard to China’s threat in Taiwan as well as Russia’s invasion tactics in Ukraine. “President Trump, who is a very skilful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that, by that conversation, to take away from the conversation around 25% tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminium and lumber and concrete,” Trudeau told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” in an interview from Washington. CNN stated that Canada is preparing to retaliate if Trump does implement his plans of adding the 25% as income tax on Canadian goods. As the tariffs would heavily affect Canadian businesses, they are preparing themselves for a trade war with the US.

In response to President Trump’s statement that the US would be changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, the President of Mexico responded with sarcasm saying that North America should be renamed “América Mexicana” or “Mexica America”. “That sounds nice, no?” she asked sarcastically, adding that the Gulf of Mexico had been named that since 1607, in her daily press briefing. With the promise of mass deportation and tariffs on Mexico by the US, although very crucial trade partners, navigating policy making by the newly elected Claudia Sheinbaum would stand to be tested in contrast to the former president, Andr és Manuel López Obrador, who leaned left to be able to build a substantial relationship with Trump as an ally, his government had even locked immigrants from moving north, succumbing to the US plight. Sheinbaum had warned that, “Any sort of tax is not acceptable; it would have devastating effects for both economies”.

In Trump’s claim that the tariffs aim to contain if not halt the influx of illegal drugs and migrants into the US which is argued by critics to strain and violate the US-Mexico-Canada agreement (USMCA), which was a trade deal that trump had negotiated himself and woven into law back in 2020. Trump has a tendency of using threats in trade to gain supremacy over the negotiations, which is said to backfire.

China has been clear in stating that “no one wins a trade war”, in response to Trump targeting China with trade policies, attributing it to reasons that stayed ignored until of convenience to the US President. The founder of The Mexico Brief, Andrew Law had said, “Trump sees an opening to push China further out of America’s backyard. This is less a policy declaration than a move to stir up trouble among bickering allies”.

Trump had told reporters that, “we don’t need their cars…we’d rather make them in Detroit.” In conclusion to the “we don’t”, Trump stated that, “we don’t need anything that they have”, in relation to Canada. While completely ignoring the trade relations that the US shares with Canada considering that just in the year 2023, Canada’s exports to the US totalled nearly $418.6 billion US, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Not to mention, there’s about 4.4 million barrels of oil that the US receives from Canada on a daily basis. And regarding Trump’s comment that the US doesn’t “need their cars”, although Canada doesn’t manufacture their own vehicles for mass production, the US is the largest auto importer in the world with Canada as one of its largest suppliers. According to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturer’s Association, more than 1.5 million vehicles were produced in Canada in 2023.

“If Canada merged with the US, there would be no tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be totally secure from the threat of the Russian and Chinese ships that are constantly surrounding them”, Trump had said in a Truth Social Media post on Monday. Trump’s comments do not solely rely on humour, but remain subtle threats, even though they seem outlandish, as he also said regarding Canada, “They have a very small military. They rely on our military. It’s fine, but they gotta pay for that”. Trump is on the verge of sparking more conflict and inclining towards Neo- imperialism, which will continue to shape the order and laws of nation-states, as Trump redefines what he can and cannot do. 

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