Trudeau rejects Trump's idea of making Canada US state
Canadian PM Justin Trudeau says there "isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States."
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has dismissed a suggestion by US President-elect Donald Trump that he might use "economic force" to make Canada the 51st US state.
"There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States," he said in a post on X on Tuesday.
"Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner."
Trump, speaking in Mar-a-Lago, was asked if he was considering using military force to acquire Canada.
"No, economic force," he responded. "Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something."
Trump, who has long complained about Canada's trade surplus with the US, had earlier told reporters the border was an "artificially drawn line."
'Lack of understanding'
Earlier on Tuesday, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said Trump's comments "show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country... We will never back down in the face of threats."
Shortly after Trudeau announced his resignation on Monday, Trump took to his Truth Social platform to claim that many Canadians would love to be the US' 51st state.
"If Canada merged with the US, 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," he said.
Trump has threatened to impose a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada, which sends 75 percent of all goods and services exports south of the border.