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Feb 2025
9m 23s

A polite message from Canada to the U.S.

NPR
About this episode
President Donald Trump has said that Canada should be the 51st state... and Canadians? Well, they're furious about it. The nation's former finance minister is calling Trump the biggest threat Canada has faced since World War 2. So today on the show, we dig into what lessons Canada can teach the US, and how the two North American nations are already deeply intertwined.

Related episodes:
Add to cart: Greenland (Apple / Spotify)
Canada's key resource against Trump's potential trade war (Apple / Spotify)

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