'51st state': Trump teases annexation again after Canada quickly caves on major tax



President Donald Trump threatened U.S.-Canada trade talks on Friday over the northern nation's digital services tax, which required foreign and domestic large businesses such as Netflix, Amazon.com's Prime Video, and Spotify to pay a levy of 3% on revenue earned from offering online services to users in Canada.

"We have just been informed that Canada, a very difficult Country to TRADE with, including the fact that they have charged our Farmers as much as 400% Tariffs, for years, on Dairy Products, has just announced that they are putting a Digital Services Tax on our American Technology Companies, which is a direct and blatant attack on our Country," Trump noted in a Truth Social post.

"They are obviously copying the European Union, which has done the same thing, and is currently under discussion with us, also," continued the president. "Based on this egregious Tax, we are hereby terminating ALL discussions on Trade with Canada, effective immediately."

'Canada is a very tough country to deal with.'

Canada — the top buyer of American goods, importing $349.4 billion last year, and 75.9% of whose total exports went to the U.S. — made abundantly clear that it wasn't too attached to the tax, which the Parliamentary Budget Office estimated would increase federal government revenues by over $5.2 billion over five years.

Within hours of Trump's post, the Department of Finance Canada announced that it was rescinding the digital services tax to advance broader trade negotiations with the United States.

Canadian Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne noted that "rescinding the DST will allow the negotiations to make vital progress and reinforce our work to create jobs and build prosperity for all Canadians."

U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick thanked Canada on Monday for removing the tax, noting that it was "intended to stifle American innovation and would have been a deal breaker for any trade deal with America."

RELATED: Canada's solution to reliance on US? Increasing commitments in Europe

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"In our negotiations on a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the United States, Canada's new government will always be guided by the overall contribution of any possible agreement to the best interests of Canadian workers and businesses," said Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. "Today’s announcement will support a resumption of negotiations toward the July 21, 2025, timeline set out at this month’s G7 Leaders’ Summit in Kananaskis."

The Canadian Liberal Party under former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau first promised the tax ahead of the 2019 federal election, saying it would "make sure that multinational tech giants pay corporate tax on the revenue they generate in Canada," even though critics indicated that Canadian consumers would end up paying the taxes.

The Digital Services Tax Act went into force on June 28, 2024, prompting condemnation stateside as well as an official complaint under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement from former U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai.

John Dickerman, vice president of the Washington, D.C.-based Business Council of Canada, suggested to Canadian state media days after Trump's re-election that the tax was likely doomed.

"The first Trump administration ... was very clear on digital services taxes. They believed that digital services taxes were a very clear indication that a country was specifically targeting the U.S. and targeting U.S. companies. It will be a 'with us and against us' scenario," said Dickerman. "I think there will be very little room for negotiation on DST."

Trump leaned on Canada to axe the tax just in the nick of time. The first payments were due on Monday and retroactive to 2022, meaning a number of American corporations were on the hook for billions of dollars.

The Canadian government indicated that Carney and Trump have agreed to resume negotiations "with a view towards agreeing on a deal by July 21, 2025."

"Canada is a very tough country to deal with, I will say that," Trump told Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures." "Hopefully we'll be fine with Canada. I love Canada. Frankly, Canada should be the 51st state."

Blaze News has reached out to the White House for comment.

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World Economic Forum regular Mark Carney's win energizes Canadian secessionists in Alberta



In addition to unlawfully declaring martial law to crush a peaceful protest, Canada's Liberal government has in recent years overseen a historic growth of the federal deficit, numerous tax hikes, an unprecedented influx of immigrants, a spike in illegal immigration, rising crime, unanswered church burnings, a worsening housing crisis, coercive medicine, the rise of state-facilitated suicide as a leading cause of death nationally, and the alienation of the western provinces.

The socioeconomic situation is apparently so dire, a recent government report detailing the nation's "downward social mobility" noted that some residents may soon have to turn to foraging and hunting to meet basic food needs.

Canadians — not so much those in the 18-to-34 age bracket who largely voted Conservative, but those over the age of 55 — decided in the federal election Monday to award the same Liberal government another four years. They may have done so at the risk of ultimately losing one or a couple of provinces.

'Large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government.'

The success of the Liberals — now under the leadership of Mark Carney, the self-identified "European" World Economic Forum regular who all but guaranteed British economic decline while governor of the Bank of England — has breathed new life into the Alberta secessionist movement.

Preston Manning, former leader of the Reform Party of Canada and a former leader of the opposition in the House of Commons, noted ahead of the election, "On account of the mismanagement of national affairs for the past decade by the Liberal government, and its consistent failure to address those issues of greatest concern to Western Canadians, large numbers of Westerners simply will not stand for another four years of Liberal government, no matter who leads it."

"The support for Western secession is therefore growing, unabated and even fueled by Liberal promises to reverse many of their previous positions. Such promises of expediency simply don't ring true in the West," continued Manning. "Who, except the most politically naive, would believe Mark Carney's promises to reverse the Liberal positions on everything from east-west pipelines to identity politics and climate change, when standing behind him is a cabinet of 23 MPs who, just a month ago, were advocating for the very opposite and have done so for years?"

The former opposition leader noted further that while the bottom-up support for western secession is currently centered on the oil-rich prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, "it has the potential to spread to most of B.C., Manitoba, and the adjacent territories depending on how it is organized and led."

A day after the federal election, Alberta lawmakers introduced legislation that would make it easier to start a referendum, including one on separating from Canada, reported CityNews.

The bill lowers the threshold for a citizen-led referendum from 20% of eligible voters to 10% and affords campaigners 120 days rather than 90 days to secure signatures.

'Now is the time to end the abusive and toxic relationship with Ottawa.'

"I believe in Alberta sovereignty within a united Canada," said Alberta Premier Danielle Smith. "However, there is a citizen referenda process that if citizens want to put a question on a ballot and get enough of their fellow citizens to sign that petition, then those questions will be put forward. Again, I don't want to prejudge what a question might be."

While Smith is apparently not a separatist, Alberta — home to the fourth-largest proven oil reserves in the world — has its fair share who might vote to leave.

When pollsters from the Angus Reid Institute asked Albertans whether they would vote to leave Canada if the Liberals were to form the next government, 30% of respondents said yes. Notably, even more Saskatchewan respondents — 33% — expressed interest in leaving the federation behind.

Cameron Davies, the leader of the Republican Party of Alberta, formerly the Buffalo Party of Alberta, is reportedly planning hundreds of town halls to seize upon this discontent and to promote secession.

"After decades of attempts at reconciliation with the rest of Canada, now is the time to end the abusive and toxic relationship with Ottawa and the east that we find ourselves in today," Davies told CityNews.

Davies, a former organizer for Smith's party who also spent five years in the U.S. Marine Corps, told Ricochet, "I am shocked, actually, by the number of people that I've had conversations with — at town halls, coffee meetings, dinner parties — that have said, 'I've never thought myself a separatist, but I think that might be our only choice left.'"

"In the last couple dozen events that we've conducted — low-key organizing, having interesting meetings with diverse groups across the province — the party's membership has exploded by an additional 8,000 in the last three and a half weeks. And that's without a lot of effort," added Davies.

While the future of Davies' party is uncertain, it's abundantly clear from Monday's election results that there's no love lost for the Carney Liberals in Alberta.

With 172 seats required for a majority, the Liberal Party came out on top with 169 seats and 49.3% of the vote. Conservatives, lead by Pierre Poilievre, lagged behind by nearly 480,000 votes, netting 144 seats and 42% of the total vote.

'Threatening to leave the country because you don’t get your desired electoral outcome is counterproductive and unpatriotic.'

Urban hives and regions heavily reliant on the government for jobs or welfare apparently skewed Liberal. Rural, industrial, and younger areas of the country appear to have picked the Conservatives.

The Conservatives netted 91.9% of the vote in Alberta, the province with the youngest population. The Liberals alternatively brought in a measly 5.4%.

Premier Smith said in a statement Tuesday, "A large majority of Albertans are deeply frustrated that the same government that overtly attacked our provincial economy almost unabated for the past 10 years has been returned to government."

"In the weeks and months ahead, Albertans will have an opportunity to discuss our province's future, assess various options for strengthening and protecting our province against future hostile acts from Ottawa, and to ultimately choose a path forward," added Smith.

Former Alberta Premier Jason Kenney recently blasted those considering the path forward that leads Alberta out of Canada, telling reporters, "Threatening to leave the country because you don’t get your desired electoral outcome is counterproductive and unpatriotic. And I don't think it's something that should be thrown around."

"Nor should central Canadian political elites be dismissive of the very legitimate grievances that people in the West and Alberta have about the attacks on our energy industry," added Kenney.

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House Democrats pass bill to make Washington, D.C., the 51st state



The House of Representatives passed legislation Thursday that would make Washington, D.C., the 51st state in the U.S., with every member voting with their party in the Democrat-majority chamber.

Now, all eyes are on the Senate, where Democrats also hold control but do not appear to have the votes needed to pass the bill.

What are the details?

House Democrats voted unanimously — 216 to 208 — for the bill that was symbolically dubbed H.R. 51 to reflect its purpose in making the District of Columbia the 51st state.

The Constitution mandates that the seat of government be federally controlled, which would require a Constitutional Congress to change. But advocates say H.R. 51 circumvents that need by merely shrinking the federally controlled district to a two-mile area that includes the White House, the U.S. Capitol, some national monuments and other federal buildings.

If passed into law, the rest of Washington, D.C., would become the State of Washington, Douglass Commonwealth, after abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

Currently, residents of Washington, D.C., can vote in presidential elections and the District has a House Delegate, Eleanor Holmes Norton (D), but she cannot vote on legislation.

With statehood, D.C. would have two senators and one representative, further entrenching the Democratic Party's current power in the federal government given the overwhelming likelihood that the dDistrict remains deep-blue.

As The Hill noted, President Joe Biden "won the District's three electoral votes in last year's election with 92 percent of the vote."

Democrats argue that D.C. residents currently suffer from "taxation without representation," while Republicans are calling D.C. statehood a power-grab from the left.

This is the second time H.R. 51 has passed the House, and the first time was just last session when it was stopped in the Senate — which was then controlled by Republicans. Now, Democrats see more momentum behind it.

The Washington Post reported that "Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) pledged Tuesday that 'we will try to work a path to get [statehood] done,' and the White House asked Congress in a policy statement to pass the legislation as swiftly as possible."

Despite support from Democratic leaders, the bill faces an uphill climb in the 50-50 upper chamber, which currently requires 60 votes to pass most legislation.

Even if Democrats were able to scrap the filibuster as many on the far-left have pushed to do, moderate Democrats such as Sens. Joe Manchin (W.Va.) and Kyrsten Sinema (Ariz.) have thus far refrained from commenting on H.R. 1.

When asked by CNN about the legislation on Thursday, Manchin replied, "I got so many things on my plate that I haven't even gotten to that yet."

Sinema's office told The Post the senator "does not preview votes," when asked about her position on statehood.

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Senate Democrats introduce bill to make DC a state and effectively expand their Senate majority



Senate Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced a bill to make Washington, D.C., a state, an effort supported by President Joe Biden.

The legislation reintroduced today was first drafted and proposed in 2013. It would give citizens of the District of Columbia full authority over local issues and grant them full representation in Congress, the Hill reported.

"This isn't a Republican or Democratic issue; it's an American issue because the lack of fair representation for D.C. residents is clearly inconsistent with the values on which this country was founded," Sen. Tom Carper (D-Del.), the bill's sponsor, said.

Proponents for D.C. statehood argue that the city's population of 712,000 residents is larger than small states like Vermont or Wyoming and comparable to others including Deleware and Alaska. They note that D.C. residents pay the highest per-capita federal income taxes in the U.S., that the city receives between 25% and 30% of its budget from the federal government, and that the only representation the district has in Congress is the non-voting Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton. The issue at hand is D.C. residents in support of statehood believe they are being taxed without representation.

Opponents of D.C. statehood raise constitutional concerns before discussing the merits of whether D.C. should be a state. The Department of Justice has previously advised Congress that it lacks the power to grant D.C. statehood. Article I, Section 8 of the U.S. Constitution stipulates that Congress retains the power "to exercise exclusive legislation in all cases whatsoever, over such District (not exceeding ten Miles square) as may, by Cession of particular States, and the Acceptance of Congress, become the Seat of Government of the United States." The District of Columbia was founded after Maryland and Virginia ceded territory to the federal government that was accepted by Congress for the purpose of creating the nation's capital. The creation of a state government, critics say, would interfere with Congress' exclusive powers over the District.

The response to that argument from D.C. statehood advocates such as D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser is that the Constitution sets a maximum size for the District, "ten miles square," but does not prohibit Congress from shrinking that area. "Creating the new state will require a simple reduction in the size of the federal district to an unpopulated area which includes the US Capitol, the National Mall, museums, some federal office buildings, the White House, the Supreme Court, and major national monuments," a pro-statehood website set up by Mayor Bowser states.

Regardless of the constitutional questions, it is unlikely the bill will pass, even in a 50-50 Senate with Vice President Kamala Harris breaking tie votes. To overcome a filibuster, Democrats supporting the bill will need to win over at least 10 Republicans, who are not inclined to vote to admit two new likely Democratic senators representing D.C. into the chamber, strengthening the Democratic majority.