Why Trump Joked About Making Canada ’51st US State’ During Trudeau Meet

US President-elect Donal Trump, during his last week’s meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, reportedly joked about making Canada the 51st state of the United States to avoid high tariffs. Mr Trudeau flew to Florida on Friday to have dinner with the incoming US President after the latter threatened to slap high tariffs on Canadian imports unless Ottawa prevents migrants and drugs from crossing the frontier.

During dinner at Mr 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.

However, new details have emerged about the meeting, which Mr Trump had earlier called “very productive.”

Quoting two people who heard the discussion, Fox News reported that during dinner, Mr Trump told Mr 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 Mr Trudeau as their governor.

The US President-elect told his northern counterpart that Canada has failed the US border by allowing large amounts of drugs and people across the border, “including illegal immigrants from over 70 different countries.” He also raised the issue of the US trade deficit with Canada, which he reportedly estimated to be more than $100 billion. 

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 Mr 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 U.S. 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.

To this, Mr Trump reportedly suggested that Canada could become two states– a conservative and a liberal one– and told Mr Trudeau that if he cannot handle his list of demands, then “Canada should really become a state or two and Trudeau could become a governor.”