After President Trump imposed tariffs on Canada on Tuesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau issued an extraordinary statement that was almost lost in that moment.
“The excuse he is giving to these tariffs on fentanyl today is completely fake, completely unfair and completely false,” Trudeau told Ottawa news media.
“What he wants is to see a complete collapse of the Canadian economy, because it will make it easier to annex us,” he added.
This is the story of how Trudeau went from making a joke when Trump called him “governor” Canada and publicly saying that Canada's closest allies and neighbors were implementing a strategy to crush the country to take over it.
February's call
Trump and Trudeau spoke once in the morning and twice again in the afternoon on February 3 as part of a debate to prey on tariffs on Canadian exports.
But these early February calls were not just customs duties.
Details of the conversation between the two leaders and subsequent discussions between top US and Canadian officials have not previously been fully reported and were shared with the New York Times on condition of anonymity by four people with first-hand knowledge of the content. They didn't want to be publicly identified by discussing sensitive topics.
In these calls, President Trump laid out a long list of complaints he had, including the Canada's protected dairy sector, the trade relations between the two countries facing difficulties that the US bank faces when doing business in Canada, and the Canadian sales tax that Trump thinks is unfair as it makes American goods even more expensive.
He also nurtured something more basic.
He told Trudeau that the treaty distinguishing between the two countries is in effect and he does not believe they want to amend the boundaries. He offered no further explanation.
The border treaty mentioned by Trump was established in 1908 and established the international boundary between Canada, then the United Kingdom Dominion and the United States.
Trump also said he revisited the lake and river sharing between the two countries. This is regulated by many treaties, and he has shown interest in the past.
Canadian officials took Trump's comments seriously. Especially because he had already said he wanted Canada to kneel. Before it was held at a January 7 press conference, Trump responded to a New York Times reporter's question about whether he plans to use military force on the annex to Canada, saying he plans to use “economic power.”
The White House did not respond to requests for comment.
During the call on February 3rd, Trudeau secured a month's postponement of these tariffs.
This week, US tariffs came into effect on Tuesday without any new grace. In return, Canada imposed its own tariffs on US exports, plunging both countries into a trade war. (On Thursday, Trump granted Canada a one-month suspension on most tariffs.)
A glimpse into the rupture between Trump and Trudeau and Trump's aggressive plans for Canada has become clear in the past few months.
The Canadian newspaper Star reports that Trump mentioned the 1908 Border Treaty and other details of the conversation in an early February call. And the Financial Times reports that there is debate in the White House about removing Canada from the key intelligence report alliance between the five countries and attributing them to senior Trump advisors.
It will double
But it wasn't just the president's conversation with Trudeau about his borders and waters that hindered Canada.
The enduring social media refers to Trudeau as the 51st province to Canada and its governor.
All of Trump's comments could be a negotiation tactic to put pressure on Canada on trade and border concessions, but Canada doesn't believe it is any more.
And the perception that the Trump administration had a closer and aggressive view of relations, a tracking of the threat of their annexation, sank during subsequent calls between top Trump officials and Canadian counterparts.
One such call was between Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, who had not yet been confirmed in the Senate at the time, and Canadian Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc. The two men have been communicating regularly since they met Trump's home in Florida and at Mar-A-Lago, club, during Trudeau's visit in early December.
Lutnick called Leblanc after the leader spoke on Feb. 3 and issued a devastating message, he said Trump found US-Canada ties to be controlled by contracts and treaties that are easily abandoned.
Trump was interested in doing just that, Lutnick said.
He wanted to drain Canada from intelligence sharing groups known as the five eyes, including the UK, Australia and New Zealand.
He wanted to tear the Great Lakes agreements and practices between the two countries that laid out how to share and manage lakes in Michigan, Huron, Erie and Ontario.
He is also considering military cooperation between the two countries, particularly the Aerospace Defense Command in North America.
A spokesman for Lutnick did not respond to requests for comment. A spokesman for LeBlanc declined to comment.
Subsequent communication between Canadian officials and Trump's advisors has brought the topic list back and forth again, making it difficult for the Canadian government to dismiss them.
The only soothing thing on the nerve came from Secretary of State Marco Rubio, four familiar with the matter said. Rubio refrained from providing threats and recently dismissed the idea that the US is considering abolishing military cooperation.
However, politicians across the Canadian spectrum and across Canadian society are frayed and deeply concerned. Officials don't consider the Trump administration's threat to be empty. They see a new normal when it comes to the US.
At a press conference on Thursday, a reporter asked Trudeau: How do you characterize it? ”
“Thursday,” Trudeau squealed.
