Is Donald Trump seriously going to give Canadians their “Che-Eh! Guevara” moment and try to seize Canada?

Just 10 percent of Canadians actually want to become an American state, according to an Angus Reid institute survey from January.

That’s roughly four million of them, and probably even less the number of Canadians who think that mullets still look cool.

But Trump just can’t let it go.

Last week, during a White House meeting with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte — who leads the alliance that supposedly exists to prevent invasions of its own member nations — Trump started fantasizing aloud about absorbing NATO members Canada and Greenland into the U.S., like he was playing a game of Risk with a buddy over for pizza and beer. And Rutte just sat there like he was struggling to process the fact that his little routine visit suddenly involved talk of kicking down his friends’ doors.

When asked about the issue at a G7 meeting in the Canadian province of Quebec, Secretary of State Marco Rubio tried to make it sound like Trump was really just talking about economic unity with the U.S. that would result in one giant economy to compete on the global playing field. Almost like Trump figures that he would be acquiring a team of players for a giant merger to field against the rest of the world. “The Canadian government has made their position clear. The president has made his argument clear as to why he thinks Canada would be better off joining as a state for economic purposes,” Rubio said.

That said, Trump’s Canada fixation has actually produced some benefits for Canadians. His tariff tantrums have finally woken up the Canadian establishment, forcing them to start fixing their own ridiculous trade barriers between provinces and reaching out to diversify their trade opportunities. They finally have to stop acting like the laziest cat in the jungle, merely reaching across the border with their paw to survive, before rolling over and going back to sleep.

New Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, an economics Ph.D. and former head of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, who has just won the Liberal Party leadership race to replace former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, has reportedly ordered his defense minister to explore alternatives to American-made Lockheed Martin F-35 fighter planes.

Conveniently, Carney is set to visit France this week – home of Dassault Aviation and its highly exported Mirage and Rafale jets.

So yeah, he probably sees Trump’s threats as a golden opportunity – particularly when he’s under the gun to prove himself worthy of actually being elected when Canadians finally get their say about him at the polls sometime this year.

Canada has also gone all-in with a “buy Canadian” push that could boost the economy in the same way that Russia’s domestic economy has benefited from Western sanctions, with new brands and services having popped up to replace their Western equivalents since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022. So, Trump’s trade war might actually make Canada more self-sufficient.

For some, Trump’s approach may seem unhinged, even threatening. But in the end, his tough talk could be like a ruthless coach who pushes his entire league to step up their game — whether they’re on his team or not. In this case, that would be Canada, Mexico and the European Union — all supposed allies currently facing Trump’s economic wrath.

Trump’s Canada obsession might be absurd, but it’s making Canadians determined to win the MVP title of his trade war league. And in the long run, they just may end up thanking him for being the tsunami that lifted their boat rather than sinking it.