Trump officials have secretly met separatists demanding oil-rich Alberta’s independence from Canada three times since April 2025. Alberta Prosperity Project, the group, is seeking another meeting with the US officials next month to ask for a $500bn credit facility to help bankroll the province if an independence referendum, which is not even announced, is passed.The group’s legal counsel Jeff Rath told Financial Times that US is extremely enthusiastic about a free and independent Alberta. The State Department and the White House dismissed the meetings as nothing substantial and like many other meetings that US officials attend. “The department regularly meets with civil society types. As is typical in routine meetings such as these, no commitments were made,” a state department spokesperson said. “Administration officials meet with a number of civil society groups. No such support, or any other commitments, was conveyed,” a White House official told FT.

Bessent calls Alberta natural partner of US

In a recent interview, US treasury secretary Scott Bessent called Alberta a natural partner for the US. “They have great resources, the Albertans are very independent people. Rumoured that they may have a referendum on whether they want to stay in Canada or not,” Bessent said, adding: “People want sovereignty. They want what the US has got.”Alberta premier Danielle Smith said the people of her province are not interested in joining the US. “The overwhelming majority of Albertans are not interested” in statehood, Sam Blackett, a spokesperson for Smith, said. “The Premier supports a strong and sovereign Alberta within a united Canada.”Alberta accounts for about 85% of oil production in Canada, the world’s fourth-largest producer.Stay Free Alberta is hosting town halls and petition signing events across the province. If more than 177,000 verified signatures are gathered by campaigners who have been accredited by Elections Alberta, the process for a fall referendum on the province’s independence from Canada will be triggered.