President-elect Donald Trump infuriated America’s neighbor to the north this week by continuing to suggest that the weak country would become America’s 51st state.
Trump said during a Tuesday press conference at Mar-a-Lago that the U.S. subsidized Canada to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars per year and got very little in-exchange.
“They don’t essentially have a military. They have a very small military,” he said. “They rely on our military. It’s all fine, but they got to pay for that. It’s very unfair.”
He said that he was going to put “very serious tariffs” on Canada to level the playing field until Canada decides to give the U.S. better trade terms and stop the flow of drugs and illegal aliens pouring across America’s northern borders.
Trump was then asked to respond to Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, who posted on X: “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period.”
“We are a great and independent country,” Poilievre claimed, adding that if he wins he will “put Canada First.”
Trump responded to the remarks by saying: “Maybe he won’t win, but maybe he will. I don’t care.”
“Listen, I don’t care what he says,” Trump said, adding that he would use “economic force” to annex or acquire Canada if that’s what he decides to do.
Trump continued:
We’re spending hundreds of billions a year to protect it. We’re spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada. In trade deficits, we’re losing massive… We don’t need their cars. They make 20% of our cars. We don’t need that. I’d rather make them in Detroit. We don’t need the cars. We don’t need their lumber. We have massive fields of lumber. We don’t need their lumber. We have to unrestrict them because stupid people put restrictions on, but I can do that with an executive order.
We don’t need anything they have. We don’t need their dairy products. We have more than they have. We don’t need anything, so why are we losing $200 billion a year and more to protect Canada? And I said that to Trudeau as I called him, Governor Trudeau. I said, ‘Listen, what would happen if we didn’t subsidize you?’ Because we give them a lot of money. We help them. As an example, we’re buying icebreakers and Canada wants to join us in the buying of icebreakers. I said, we don’t really want to have a partner in the buying of icebreakers. We don’t need a partner.
Trump said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted that his country would “dissolve” if it wasn’t for U.S. assistance.
Trudeau — who announced this week that he is resigning because he has become deeply unpopular and is on track to get blown out in this year’s elections — fired back on X, claiming that Canada would never become part of America.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Trudeau said. “Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”
Trudeau’s Liberal Party also published a graphic on X showing that Canada was not part of the U.S.
For anyone who may be confused. pic.twitter.com/R0G1efkJUg
— Liberal Party (@liberal_party) January 7, 2025
[#item_full_content]
[[{“value”:”
President-elect Donald Trump infuriated America’s neighbor to the north this week by continuing to suggest that the weak country would become America’s 51st state.
Trump said during a Tuesday press conference at Mar-a-Lago that the U.S. subsidized Canada to the tune of hundreds of billions of dollars per year and got very little in-exchange.
“They don’t essentially have a military. They have a very small military,” he said. “They rely on our military. It’s all fine, but they got to pay for that. It’s very unfair.”
He said that he was going to put “very serious tariffs” on Canada to level the playing field until Canada decides to give the U.S. better trade terms and stop the flow of drugs and illegal aliens pouring across America’s northern borders.
Trump was then asked to respond to Canadian opposition leader Pierre Poilievre, leader of the Conservative Party, who posted on X: “Canada will never be the 51st state. Period.”
“We are a great and independent country,” Poilievre claimed, adding that if he wins he will “put Canada First.”
Trump responded to the remarks by saying: “Maybe he won’t win, but maybe he will. I don’t care.”
“Listen, I don’t care what he says,” Trump said, adding that he would use “economic force” to annex or acquire Canada if that’s what he decides to do.
Trump continued:
We’re spending hundreds of billions a year to protect it. We’re spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada. In trade deficits, we’re losing massive… We don’t need their cars. They make 20% of our cars. We don’t need that. I’d rather make them in Detroit. We don’t need the cars. We don’t need their lumber. We have massive fields of lumber. We don’t need their lumber. We have to unrestrict them because stupid people put restrictions on, but I can do that with an executive order.
We don’t need anything they have. We don’t need their dairy products. We have more than they have. We don’t need anything, so why are we losing $200 billion a year and more to protect Canada? And I said that to Trudeau as I called him, Governor Trudeau. I said, ‘Listen, what would happen if we didn’t subsidize you?’ Because we give them a lot of money. We help them. As an example, we’re buying icebreakers and Canada wants to join us in the buying of icebreakers. I said, we don’t really want to have a partner in the buying of icebreakers. We don’t need a partner.
Trump said that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau admitted that his country would “dissolve” if it wasn’t for U.S. assistance.
Trudeau — who announced this week that he is resigning because he has become deeply unpopular and is on track to get blown out in this year’s elections — fired back on X, claiming that Canada would never become part of America.
“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States,” Trudeau said. “Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”
Trudeau’s Liberal Party also published a graphic on X showing that Canada was not part of the U.S.
For anyone who may be confused. pic.twitter.com/R0G1efkJUg
— Liberal Party (@liberal_party) January 7, 2025
“}]]
