Trump wasn't serious when he said Canada could be 51st state — minister

Canada's Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc says President-elect Donald Trump was joking when he said Canada could become the US' 51st state during a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Trudeau requested the meeting in a bid to avoid the tariffs by convincing Trump that the northern border is nothing like the US southern border with Mexico. / Photo: Reuters Archive
Reuters Archive

Trudeau requested the meeting in a bid to avoid the tariffs by convincing Trump that the northern border is nothing like the US southern border with Mexico. / Photo: Reuters Archive

President-elect Donald Trump was joking when he suggested Canada become the 51st US state during a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a Canadian minister who attended their recent dinner said.

Fox News reported that Trump made the comment in response to Trudeau raising concerns that Trump's threatened tariffs on Canada would damage Canada's economy. Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the Friday dinner at Trump's Mar-a-Lago club, said on Tuesday Trump's comments were in jest.

"The president was telling jokes. The president was teasing us. It was, of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment," LeBlanc told reporters in Ottawa.

LeBlanc described it as a three-hour social evening at the president's residence in Florida on a long weekend of American Thanksgiving.

"The conversation was going to be light-hearted," he said. He called the relations warm and cordial and said the fact that "the president is able to joke like that for us" indicates good relations.

On Tuesday, Trump appeared to continue with the joke, posting on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag next to him with the caption "Oh Canada!"

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Trade ties

Earlier last week, the Republican president-elect threatened to impose a 25 percent tax on all products entering the US from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs.

Trudeau requested the meeting in a bid to avoid the tariffs by convincing Trump that the northern border is nothing like the US southern border with Mexico.

Trudeau held a rare meeting with opposition leaders on Tuesday about US-Canada relations and later said that opposition Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre shouldn't amplify the erroneous narratives that Americans are saying about the border.

"Less than one percent of migrants coming into the United States irregularly come from Canada, and 0.2 percent of the fentanyl coming into the United States comes from Canada," Trudeau said in Parliament.

Canadian officials have said there are plans to put more helicopters, drones and law enforcement officers at the border.

At the dinner, Kristen Hillman, Canada's ambassador to Washington, said America's trade deficit with Canada was also raised. Hillman said the US had a $75 billion trade deficit with Canada last year but noted a third of what Canada sells to the US is energy exports, and prices have been high.

"Trade balances are something that he focuses on, so it's important to engage in that conversation but to put it into context," Hillman told the Associated Press.

"We are one-tenth the size of the United States so a balanced trade deal would mean per capita we are buying 10 times more from the US than they are buying from us. If that's his metric we will certainly engage on that."

Hillman said Canada sold $170 billion worth of energy products last year to the US.

About 60 percent of US crude oil imports are from Canada, and 85 percent of US electricity imports as well.

Trudeau returned home after the dinner at Mar-a-Lago club in Florida without assurances Trump would back away from threatened tariffs on all products from the major American trading partner. Trump called the talks "productive" but signalled no retreat from a pledge that Canada says unfairly lumps it in with Mexico over the flow of drugs and migrants into the United States.

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