Donald Trump says Golden Dome would cost Canada $61 billion US

Kevin Maimann · CBC News

· Posted: May 27, 2025 8:17 PM EDT | Last Updated: 8 hours ago

U.S. President Donald Trump has enactment a terms tag connected Canada joining his projected Golden Dome rocket defence strategy — and renewed his annexation menace successful the process.

Trump posted connected his Truth Social platform connected Tuesday that it volition outgo Canada $61 cardinal US to articulation the Golden Dome "if they stay a separate, but unequal, Nation," but volition outgo thing "if they go our cherished 51st State."

He claimed Canada is "considering" the offer.

This comes connected the aforesaid time as the throne code was delivered in Parliament by King Charles, during which helium asserted Canada's sovereignty and Prime Minister Mark Carney committed his authorities to joining a large European defence rearmament plan.

Carney told CBC's Power & Politics in an interrogation pursuing the code that helium hopes Canada volition beryllium capable to articulation ReArm Europe by July 1, successful a measurement to trim the country's dependence on the United States for weapons and munitions. 

WATCH | Mark Carney talks astir European subject buildup:

Trump's societal media post besides marks the archetypal clip helium has levelled his "51st state" menace since gathering with Carney successful the Oval Office successful Washington, D.C., on May 6.

It could reignite tensions betwixt the 2 nations, coming days after Pete Hoekstra, the U.S. ambassador to Canada, said that the annexation saga was over.

"Move on. If the Canadians privation to support talking astir it — that's their business," Hoekstra told CBC News past week. "I'm not talking astir it; Donald Trump is not talking astir it."

In effect to Trump's post, a spokesperson with the Prime Minister's Office said national authorities officials are discussing security-related issues with the U.S., including the Golden Dome and the North American Aerospace Defence Command (NORAD).

"The premier curate has been wide astatine each opportunity, including successful his conversations with President Trump, that Canada is an independent, sovereign nation, and it volition stay one," the spokesperson said successful a connection to CBC News.

"Canadians gave the premier curate a beardown mandate to negociate a broad caller information and economical narration with the United States. To that end, the premier curate and his ministers are having wide-ranging and constructive discussions with their American counterparts. These discussions people see strengthening NORAD and related initiatives specified arsenic the Golden Dome."

Dome could outgo hundreds of billions

The Golden Dome program is modelled aft the Iron Dome that protects Israel from rockets, but it aims to beryllium much complex and hundreds of times bigger.

Trump and different U.S. officials accidental the strategy would beryllium capable to artifact missiles fired from different countries and from space, weaving together existing technologies with aboriginal tech that does not yet exist. He said past week that Canada wants to "hook in" to the system and would wage its "fair share."

The president has said the dome volition outgo $175 cardinal US and beryllium built successful 3 years, but immoderate experts accidental it would apt instrumentality person to 20 years — requiring buy-in from aggregate administrations — and outgo arsenic overmuch as $1 trillion.

The program has been condemned by China and raised concerns about the possibility of igniting a space-based arms contention with China, Russia and different countries that person oregon are developing military abstraction capabilities.