Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said “never, ever will Canada be part of the United States” after President-elect Donald Trump threatened Tuesday to use “economic force” to force Canada to join the UNITED STATES.
Mr. Trudeau posted on social media that “the workers and communities of our two countries benefit from being each other’s greatest trading and security partner.”
In his first news conference since certifying his election victory, Mr. Trump escalated his recent rhetoric about making Canada the 51st state by considering getting rid of the international border through “economic force.”
Shortly after his election victory in November, the president-elect threatened to impose a 25% import tariff on all goods from Canada and Mexico.
Justin Trudeau visited Mr. Trump’s property in Mar-a-Lago, Florida, a few days later to try to counter the threat, but the next tenant of the White House said Tuesday that he was suing his plan.
Mr. Trump threatened to use “economic force” to make Canada the 51st state and repeated his threats of tariffs while criticizing Canada’s military spending and trade with the United States.
“If you get rid of that artificially drawn line and look at what it looks like, that would be much better for national security as well,” Mr. Trump said at his Tuesday news conference, referring to the border between Canada and the United States.
“And remember, essentially, we are protecting Canada.”
-The president-elect had already announced that he would impose 25% tariffs on the United States’ neighbors unless Canada and Mexico can stem “the flow of illegal drugs across the border.”
Donald Trump also recalled his meeting with Justin Trudeau during Tuesday’s press conference and repeatedly claimed that Canada was subsidized by the United States.
The Republican leader said he asked Mr. Trudeau why Canada relied on trade with the United States and suggested that the prime minister responded that he did not know.
“I can answer. We do it out of habit and we do it because we love our neighbors and we are good neighbors. But we can’t do it forever and it’s a huge amount of money,” Mr. Trump argued.
“I said it’s fine if you’re a state. But if you are another country, we don’t want to have it,” added the president-elect, suggesting that Canada should become the 51st state.
The president-elect also recalled suggesting hockey legend Wayne Gretzky run for prime minister.
On Monday, after the announcement of Mr. Trudeau’s upcoming departure, Mr. Trump argued that the prime minister was resigning because he knew the United States would not tolerate trade deficits with Canada. He also estimated that many Canadians “would love” for Canada to become the 51st American state.
