Washington – President Donald Trump said several times Canada should be the 51st American condition As it proposes to erase the border 5,525 miles long which separates countries and relieves the need for Prices he threatened Against one of the best allies and business partners in America.
The 48 traditional states would become the 50 contiguous as the Canadian territory between the American continent and Alaska disappears, leaving Hawaii as the only non -continental state.
“If people wanted to play the game well, it would be 100% as they would become a state,” said Trump recently.
Canada first reacted as if Trump must jokewith the Prime Minister Justin Trudeau swearing that his country will never be the 51st state. “But Trudeau more recently suggested behind closed doors Trump’s supported annexation calls: “It’s a real thing.”
But is it? Really?
Here is a more in -depth look:
Congress must approve the acceptance of a new state.
It takes only a majority to the House, but the rules of the Senate Filibuster require a minimum of 60 votes in the chamber of 100 members to carry a bill on the ground – an insurmountable threshold For all kinds of key laws.
The Constitution admissions clause, Article IV, Section 3, declares: “New States can be admitted by the Congress in this Union; But no new state should be trained or erected in the jurisdiction of another state; No state is formed by the junction of two or more states, or parts of the States, without the consent of the legislatures of the states concerned as well as the congress. »»
Any measure approving a new state that eliminates the congress should also be signed by the president – although Trump, a Republican, clearly said that he would admit Canada.
The republican senator Lindsey Graham of South Caroline, an ally of Trump, joked on X when the 50 states Victory certified at Trump electoral college Last month, “they jumped Canada. We will repair this next time!
However, no major legislation is progressing, which would extend an invitation to the state to the neighbor in northern America.
Residents of a territory do not necessarily have to vote to join the United States.
There have been multiple paths to the State – from the absorption of the 13 colonies under the articles of the Confederation, to the congress officially accepting the request of Texas to be annexed as 28th State, but only after having rejected the Previous openings of the then exhaust.
However, most of the states were added after the congress accepted a petition of a territorial legislative body, which could include legislatures that the Congress itself suggested to train within the framework of the process.
In practice, therefore, Canada should probably have a referendum to assess the interests of voters to join the United States before more detailed aspects of the process can begin – and the chances of passage do not seem high.
Although it is not addressed directly in Canada as 51st state, the survey last year of Gallup and the Pew Research Center shows that the Americans have a positive vision of Canada – and that if the Canadians see the States -Unis more positively than negatively, their point of view can be a little more mute.
Trump’s prices threats have let Canadians feel betrayed, and sports fans in Canada began to express their dissatisfaction with Hue the American national anthem at the NBA and NHL matches.
Of course, public opinion would not matter if the United States has chosen to invade Canada and annex it by force. Even Trump does not suggest that, although he is refused to exclude the American military force To enter the control of The Panama Canal.
Deeply – and it is without speculating to find out if a majority of Canadians could support Democrats or Republicans for the President and Congress.
If Canada was to join the United States, its population of 41.6 million would make it the largest state, exceeding 39.4 million residents in California. Canada would obtain two senators but also 55 seats in the Chamber on the basis of the average population of the Congress district after the 2020 American census, which was 761,169 individuals.
This would make Canada the richest price in the presidential breed, with 57 delegates from the electoral college – exceeding 54 of California.
The law of 1929 on permanent distribution, for its part, compares the number of seats of the house at 435, which means that other delegations of the State would shrink to make room for the new Canadian members of the Chamber – and, By extension, his delegates to the electoral college.
Suddenly, the States of Swing Make Or-Cassel such as Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin may not seem so important if there are tens of millions of cannucks waiting to be courted with a presidential election on The line.
Before Trump took up his duties for his second term, debate on the addition of state n ° 51 traditionally centered on Puerto Rico And Washington, DC
Puerto Rico is an American Commonwealth, and its voters have Approved the State in non -binding referendums. The proposals to allow it to become a state have been introduced several times to the Congress but not approved.
Washington, DC, the residents voted in support of the State and approved a constitution of the State and proposed borders. An invoice Admit The city as Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, adopted the house controlled by Democrat as recently as 2021 but not the Senate.
The Republicans now control the two chambers, which means that they will probably oppose the addition of states that could be the majority of democratic such as Puerto Rico or DC
The national capital obtains three votes from the electoral college for the president under the 23rd amendment of the Constitution, although there is a lack of voting representation at the Congress. This is why the electoral college has 538 delegates in total: 435 members of the room, 100 senators and three for DC
Trump talked about The United States invade – or purchase – GreenlandAn autonomous territory in the Kingdom of Denmark. It was despite the Danish authorities who insisted that it was not for sale.
The president did not say that if Greenland could be a state, only that “I think we are going to have it” and that the island is around 57,000 residents “want to be with us”.
Hawaii became the 50th state in 1959, almost 18 years after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.
The island chain at around 2,400 miles (3,900 kilometers) from the continental United States was annexed as American territory by the Congress in 1898, after the spanish civil war. Many bills offering a state of state of Hawaii were then presented, but they stalled for decades in the midst of racial discrimination and partisan disagreement.
In the early 1950s, Hawaii lean republican and the Democrats opposed its admission to the Union without including Alaska, which was considered more favorable to their party.
Alaska, currently separated from the United States of the continent by around 500 miles (800 kilometers) of Canadian territory, was finally admitted as State No. 49 in January 1959. The union on August 21, 1959.
Ironically, Alaska supported the Republicans at each presidential election, except 1964, while Hawaii voted democratic each presidential cycle but 1972 and 1984.
