Trudeau rejects Trump’s suggestion of Canada as 51st state of US

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rejected US President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that Canada could become the 51st state of the United States. Trudeau called Trump’s remarks a distraction tactic.

"That’s not going to happen. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of the easiest ways we define ourselves is that we are not American," Trudeau told CNN. He added that Trump, a skillful negotiator, was diverting attention with such comments.

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Trump's tariff proposal

Trump recently proposed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian imports unless Ottawa tightened border security. Trudeau warned this would harm both economies, with US consumers facing higher costs.

"Oil, gas, electricity, steel, aluminium, lumber, and concrete – everything Americans buy from Canada – would become much more expensive," he said.

Also Read: ‘Will use economic force to make Canada part of US’, says Trump

Counter-tariffs

Trudeau referenced Canada’s counter-tariffs during a 2018 trade dispute, targetting US products like ketchup, playing cards, bourbon, and motorcycles. However, he insisted that such measures were undesirable, as they hurt Canadians and strained the US-Canada trade relationship.

Trump’s comments follow his earlier suggestion of purchasing Greenland, an idea strongly dismissed by Danish and Greenlandic leaders. Trudeau reiterated his stance, saying, "There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States."