His second term hasn’t even started, and Trump is already embarrassing the United States before other national leaders. The president-elect reportedly told Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, that the entire sovereign nation should consider becoming the 51st state.
On Friday, Trudeau visited Trump’s home at Mar-a-Lago in order to discuss the tariffs the incoming president has proposed. Throughout the campaign trail, Trump has touted trade tariffs (taxes on goods produced outside the US), claiming this will encourage domestic production.
But he has also leveraged tariffs, which will increase prices for American consumers, as a cudgel. Earlier in the week, Trump specifically threatened 25% tariffs on all goods from Canada and Mexico on Day 1 of his presidency to punish both nations.
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“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” Trump posted to Truth Social.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country!”
In Parliament, Trudeau responded to the threat by pointing to the differences between the Canadian and Mexican borders. “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,” he said.
Trudeau and his aides met with Trump in-person over the Thanksgiving weekend to stress the devastating impact these price hikes will have on both the Canadian and American economies. An anonymous source relayed the conversation to Fox News.
After Trudeau insisted that the tariff increase would destroy the Canadian economy, Trump reportedly alleged, “So your country can’t survive unless it’s ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?”
In a real ‘let them eat cake’ moment, Trump went on to suggest that Canada could avoid the tariff by becoming the 51st state, causing Trudeau and the others in the room to “laugh nervously.” After that, Trump suggested that Trudeau become governor of the 51st state rather than his current title of Prime Minister.
Like most of Trump’s jokes, the media and Republican staffers have wrestled with whether it was truly meant as a joke. Adding further confusion, Trump followed up by posting an AI-generated image of himself on what appears to be the Swedish Alps with a Canadian flag.
Canada is one of the US’s biggest trading partners, with over 77% of its exports traveling to America according to the AP. A 25% tariff would hike up the prices on high import products like steel, electricity and crude oil.
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