Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent promoted the idea of the province of Alberta voting to exit Canada as his boss lusts for U.S. expansion.
The top Trump officials leaned into “rumors” during an interview on the right-wing streaming channel Real America’s Voice.
“Alberta’s a natural partner for the U.S. They have great resources. The Albertans are very independent people,” Bessent said. “Rumor is they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not.”
Bessent made the comment after complaining Alberta was a “wealth of natural resources,” but it’s not allowed to build a pipeline to the Pacific Ocean.
Pressed for whether he had more information about Albertans wanting to break up with Canada, Bessent demurred.
“People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the U.S. has got,” Bessent claimed.
Trump has repeatedly ranted that he wanted to make Canada the 51st state before backing off when Mark Carney became prime minister.
But the president did share a Truth Social post last week that showed an AI-generated image with a map on it that had Canada, Greenland and Venezuela draped in an American flag.
The province of Alberta has roughly 5 million people and is considered a more conservative region of Canada, though that does not mean it aligns directly with conservatives in the U.S. Alberta Premier Danielle Smith is a member of the country’s United Conservative Party.
According to The Canadian Press, hundreds of people in the province have been lining up to sign a petition sanctioned by Alberta’s chief electoral officer that seeks to force a vote on Alberta’s leaving Canada.
It’s not clear how many signatures have been gathered, but it would take nearly 178,000 before May to get the process started.
It was a remarkable moment to see one of the top officials in the Trump administration promoting a Canadian separatist movement, but the president has targeted Canada with tariffs since returning to office. This week, Trump slammed Carney’s speech at Davos.
The Daily Beast asked the White House for comment after Bessent’s comment.
In recent weeks, Trump also demanded that the U.S. take over Greenland and threatened tariffs if a deal for its purchase was not reached. He insisted it was a matter of national security.
Despite Bessent’s claim that people want “what the U.S. has got,” Greenlanders insisted they did not want to join the U.S., and its leaders said the territory was not for sale.
Trump dramatically backed off during his visit to Davos, Switzerland, where he claimed a “framework” had been reached for a security deal regarding Greenland.
After Bessent made his claims about Canada, he went on to bash Europe. He argued that it lacks sovereignty and must rely on China economically and on the U.S. for security.
