For people who have not read history, one might presume that "annexation" is the goal. But that possibility ended in with the War of 1812 after America invaded Canada and Canadians made it clear, they did not want to be part of America.

Since then, the two countries have added over two hundred years of distinctive history. History that has made merging the two nations even less likely.

Trump's comments about being willing to subsidize Canada if it was part of America was largely to deflect the argument that we don't attempt to address trade imbalances between states with a simple statement, rather than an inference that he expects our nations will unite.

Instead, Trump believes America should attempt at the least to enter into trade agreements that it sees as advantageous to the US. These agreements have to serve both the economic and strategic interests of the US... as well as Canada.

When administrations change and as time passes, things change, and new agreements are necessary. Once all the terms are worked out, some industries will suffer, some additional expectations will be implemented, but the US will remain the US and Canada will remain Canada.

Canada is likely to find access to US consumers for its manufactured goods (even those produced by American companies in Canada) more restricted even as demand for its raw materials expand.

Hopefully, if Canada can produce goods at competitive costs, it can find new markets for them.

Canada has always protected its industries from US companies, and I expect that will continue (it does so through quotas more than tariffs).

Canada has sought for decades to capture more of the "value" from its raw materials by attempting to attract foreign companies to produce products in their country for export back to their home country in addition to having access to Canada's consumer market without quotas. This practice has cost the US quite a few jobs and is likely going to be impacted by the new trade deals.