'An utter ignoramus': Canadian experts rip into 'bluster' of Trump's '51st state' plan

Canada's National Post has interviewed foreign policy experts about President Donald Trump's pitch to make Canada into America's "51st state" — and none of them were impressed with what they've heard.

Jack Cunningham, an assistant professor of International Relations at the University of Toronto’s Trinity College, told the National Post that Trump essentially wants to make Canada into an "economic satellite" that is used as a "storehouse" for resources to be shipped southward.

"I think Trump would like something along those lines," he said. "Though, since he’s an utter ignoramus, he doesn’t really understand the economics or the history."

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Canadian historian Craig Baird broke down the background of the establishment of the border between the United States and Canada, and emphasized that Trump's determination to "revisit" decades-old border treaties is completely without precedent in the history of the two nations.

"We’re feeling betrayed," Baird said of Trump's belligerence toward Canada. "Along with things like tariffs, there’s talk of claiming the Great Lakes for themselves and redrawing the border. It’s throwing in the face of 200 years of progress and cooperation to create this 8,000-kilometer-long undefended border. It’s really terrible, even if it’s just bluster."