Florida: US President-elect Donald Trump, during his last week meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reportedly joked about making Canada the 51st state of the United States to avoid high tariffs. Trudeau flew to Florida to have dinner with the incoming US President after the latter threatened to slap high tariffs on Canadian imports unless Ottawa prevented migrants and drugs from crossing the frontier.
During dinner at Trump's private Mar-a-Lago estate, the Canadian Prime Minister reportedly promised the President-elect that Ottawa would toughen controls over the long undefended joint border. Canada sends 75 per cent of all goods and services exports to the United States and tariffs would badly hurt the economy.
Quoting two people who heard the discussion, Fox News reported that during dinner, Trump told Trudeau that if Ottawa cannot handle his list of demands, including controlling the border issues and paying the trade deficit, then Canada should become "a state or two" with Trudeau as their governor.
The President-elect threatened to levy a 25 per cent tariff on all Canadian goods on day one after he takes office on January 20, 2025, if Canada did not fix both issues by then. When Trudeau opined that Canada cannot levy such a high tariff as it would "kill the Canadian economy completely", Trump asked, "So your country can't survive unless it's ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?"
He then jokingly suggested to Trudeau that Canada become the 51st state, which caused the prime minister and others to laugh nervously, sources told Fox News. At this moment, "someone at the table chimed in and advised Trump that Canada would be a very liberal state, which received even more laughter," the report said.
