US President Donald Trump speaks to the press alongside Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney during their meeting at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, on June 16, 2025. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP
The threat has shifted. While Europeans breathed a sigh of relief at US President Donald Trump's recent retreat on Greenland, Canada has now become the target. The US administration has set its sights on the province of Alberta, an energy hub in western Canada that accounts for 90% of national oil production. "Alberta is a natural partner for the US," declared Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on January 22 during his visit to Davos, Switzerland, as if referring to a fully sovereign state. Notably, he was responding to MAGA influencer Jack Posobiec, a prominent Christian nationalist. "People are talking. People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got," Bessent noted.
Bessent was referring to a campaign launched at the start of January to collect nearly 178,000 signatures in the province, aiming to organize a referendum on independence, asking the question: "Do you agree that the province of Alberta should cease to be a part of Canada to become an independent state?" The initiative, led by the separatist Alberta Prosperity Project (APP), has little chance of resulting in the province's actual secession, according to polls.
