British Columbia has unveiled a new welcome sign declaring the province will "NEVER be the 51st state," the latest Canadian response to President Donald Trump's repeated suggestions that Canada should join the United States. The sign was displayed by Premier David Eby during a news conference in Victoria on Tuesday as officials outlined measures tied to the ongoing U.S.-Canada trade dispute. The move comes days after renewed backlash to social media posts and maps shared by Trump that depicted Canada as part of the United States.
British Columbia's new sign campaign is aimed at pushing back against Trump's repeated references to Canada as the "51st state" while reinforcing Canadian sovereignty during a period of heightened tensions between Ottawa and Washington. One version of the sign reads: "Strong, proud and will NEVER be the 51st state. Sorry!" Another welcomes visitors to British Columbia while listing local rules alongside a final icon that states "Never 51st State." During Tuesday's announcement, Eby said the province was looking for responses that would have "the least impact on British Columbians and the most impact on those who are coming after us, specifically the president." Eby also criticized Trump's recent online activity.
"All I can say is that the president is clearly unhinged. They are not befitting the leader of the world's largest economy, the world's largest army," Eby said. The premier argued that Canada should strengthen domestic economic ties and pursue more diversified trading relationships beyond the United States.
British Columbia is not the only government to publicly respond to Trump's social media posts depicting other territories as part of the United States. Officials in Iceland have also pushed back after being included in imagery circulated online by Trump supporters and commentators discussing U.S. territorial expansion. Iceland's Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir warned: "There is nothing funny or normal about making fun of the sovereignty of states, especially today when it is not a given.” Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum wrote, without directly addressing Trump's map, that "Mexico is neither nor will be a colony or protectorate of any foreign country," in an X post.
While Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen reiterated her country's position that Greenland did not wish to become a part of the U.S. Her top diplomat, Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, saw the "disturbing" map as evidence that Trump "still harbors some kind of maximalist vision in his own mind." Newsweek reached out to the White House via email for comment. The sign arrives amid an escalating trade dispute between the United States and Canada that has prompted retaliatory tariffs and increasingly sharp rhetoric from political leaders on both sides of the border.
Speaking on Tuesday, Eby defended Canada's response to U.S. trade measures and invoked Canada's support for the United States following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. "Nobody wanted this trade war. Canadians sure didn't start it, and working families on both sides of the border will be worse off because of it," Eby said.
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