‘Canada is not for sale’: Doug Ford fires back at Donald Trump

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks at a press conference in Toronto, on Tuesday, May 12, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Ontario Premier Doug Ford is pushing back against U.S. President Donald Trump’s latest attack on Canada’s sovereignty.

“I can’t believe I have to say this again, but Canada will never be the 51^st state,” Ford wrote in a post on X Tuesday morning.

“Canada is not for sale.”

The remark was in response to Trump’s reaction to a Bloomberg news article Monday about Canada falling into a technical recession.

“51^st State!” Trump wrote on social media. The jab was then retweeted by U.S. Ambassador to Canada, Pete Hoekstra.

Two consecutive quarterly contractions meet some definitions for a technical recession, and three of the last four quarters in Canada have posted negative GDP growth.

Trump’s “51^st state” rhetoric has been ongoing since December 2024. Although it was first seen as a joke, it later developed into a real threat amid the ongoing trade war. Trump has since touted the economic benefits Canada would receive by becoming part of the U.S. and has referred to the border as an “artificial line.” Trump has made similar remarks about Venezuela.

Prime Minister Mark Carney hasn’t commented publicly on Trump’s latest shot, but last week invoked the president’s flagship slogan to speak to the importance of the cross-border relationship.

“A Canada strong will help make America great again,” Carney told a New York City business crowd last Thursday. Hoekstra tweeted Carney’s remarks, and said they were “worth repeating.”

On Tuesday, Carney acknowledged the “weakness” in Canada’s economy, but stopped short of describing the current economic climate as a recession.

Ford went on to say that Ontario created 680 per cent more jobs than the U.S., adjusted for inflation, in April.

With files from Rachel Aiello, Stephanie Ha, and The Canadian Press