In the wake of Justin Trudeau’s announcement Monday that he will step down as Canada’s prime minister and leader of the Liberal party, incoming U.S. president Donald Trump is, once again, claiming that many Canadians want to see our country become a U.S. state.
In a post to his social media platform Truth Social Monday, Trump wrote “many people in Canada LOVE being the 51st State.
Donald Trump, once again, is suggesting the idea that Canada merge with the U.S. and become the 51st state.
Truth Social
“The United States can no longer suffer the massive Trade Deficits and Subsidies that Canada needs to stay afloat. Justin Trudeau knew this, and resigned,” he continued, adding that if Canada “merged” with the U.S., “there would be no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them.”
It’s the latest in a series of recent digs Trump has made about Canada joining the U.S. — before Trudeau announced his resignation — Trump referred to him as “Governor Trudeau” on multiple occasions.
In mid-December, following Chrystia Freeland’s bombshell resignation from cabinet, he said Canada joining the U.S. as a state would save on taxes and military protection and called it a “great idea.”
He first floated the idea in early December after Trudeau flew to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and dined with the president to-be.
Details of their discussion are scarce, but Trump said it was a “very productive meeting” and Trudeau called it an “excellent conversation.”
After their dinner, Fox News, citing anonymous sources, reported that Trump suggested to Trudeau that if the tariffs would kill the Canadian economy then maybe the country should become the 51st state.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who also attended the dinner, brushed off Trump’s suggestion, saying it was “in no way a serious comment.”
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“We were in a three-hour social evening at the president’s residence in Florida on a long weekend of American Thanksgiving,” he told reporters at the time.
“The conversation was going to be lighthearted. The president was telling jokes. The president was teasing us. It was, of course, on that issue in no way a serious comment.
“We had a discussion on trade issues, on border security that was very productive, but the fact that there’s a warm, cordial relationship between the two leaders and the president is able to joke like that for us it was a positive thing.”
Trump has threatened that when he becomes president this month he will impose massive tariffs on all goods from Canada unless it stops the flow of migrants and illegal drugs into the U.S.
— With files from Global News’ Saba Aziz and Sean Boynton