The Blubber

President Donald Trump reportedly told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a call last month that he wanted to “revise” the border between their two countries.

According to The New York Times, Trudeau came away from the conversation believing that Trump’s ultimate goal was to “annex” Canada—an idea Trump has repeatedly floated in recent months, referring to the country as the “51st state.”

In a report published Friday, Times journalist Matina Stevis-Gridneff wrote that Trump and Trudeau spoke twice on Feb. 3 about U.S. tariffs on Canadian goods.

At the time, Trudeau initially took Trump’s reference to him as Canada’s “governor” as a joke. But by early this week, the prime minister had come to believe that Trump was serious about bringing Canada under U.S. control.

Citing four sources familiar with the discussions, Stevis-Gridneff reported:

During those calls, President Trump listed numerous grievances regarding trade between the two countries, including Canada’s protected dairy sector, the difficulties American banks face operating in Canada, and Canadian consumption taxes, which Trump considers unfair because they increase the cost of American goods.

He also raised a far more fundamental issue.

Trump told Trudeau that he did not believe the treaty that established the U.S.-Canada border was valid and that he wanted to revise it. He provided no further explanation.

The current U.S.-Canada border was established by treaty in 1908.

According to The Times, Trump also brought up the issue of “sharing lakes and rivers between the two nations,” a matter governed by multiple treaties that he has previously expressed interest in revisiting. Canadian officials took his comments seriously, especially given Trump’s public remarks about wanting to bring Canada “to its knees.”

Trump reportedly also voiced a desire to scrap the Great Lakes agreements and conventions between the two countries, which regulate the shared management of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario.

That sentiment was reportedly echoed in private conversations with Canadian officials by U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.

On Tuesday, Trudeau stated that he now believes Trump’s ultimate aim is to pressure Canada into accepting statehood. “What he wants is to see a total collapse of the Canadian economy, because that’ll make it easier to annex us,” the prime minister said.