Imagine waking up one morning to find that the northern border no longer marks the edge of the United States. Instead, it now stretches deep into what was once an entirely separate country, and Canada has been fully integrated as the 51st state of the US. Although this sounds like something out of a speculative novel or late-night political debate, President Donald Trump has threatened several times to annex Canada and other territories, like Greenland, and bring them into the fold of the United States.
He recently shared AI-generated images of himself in the Oval Office sitting with European leaders, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen, next to a map showing Greenland and Canada as American territory.
This is most certainly a far-off possibility, but what would actually change if the Canadian case were to happen? The US and Canada are two of the largest countries on the planet, not only in geographic area but also in political scale. If their resources, armies, and ideologies were to merge, the entire planet would be reshaped in the aftermath.
Intrigued? Click through this gallery to find out what this hypothetical scenario would entail.