U.S. President Donald Trump reacted to the news that Canada has entered a technical recession by once again calling for the country to join the United States as its “51st state.”
Trump made the comment in a June 1 post on Truth Social, writing “51st State!” alongside a link to a Bloomberg article about the recession. Trump’s post was reposted on X the following day by U.S. Ambassador to Canada Pete Hoekstra.
Statistics Canada had reported on May 29 that Canada’s economy showed no growth in the first quarter of 2026 after contracting in the last quarter of 2025. The country’s GDP declined for two consecutive quarters on an annualized basis, meeting the common definition of a technical recession….