(LifeSiteNews) — U.S. President Donald Trump reaffirmed his desire to annex Canada shortly after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was overheard admitting that the threat is a “real thing.”
During a February 9 Fox News interview with Bret Baier, Trump confirmed that Trudeau was correct: he does plan to absorb Canada into the United States and make it the 51st state.
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“Yeah it is,” Trump said. “I think Canada would be much better off being a 51st state because we lose $200 billion a year with Canada and I’m not gonna let that happen.”
“Why are we paying $200 billion a year essentially in subsidy to Canada? Now if they’re a 51st state I don’t mind doing it,” he continued.
While it is true that Canada has a trade surplus with America, Canadian economists have argued that the figure is much lower than $200 billion and that if energy is excluded, the U.S. actually runs a trade surplus with Canada.
Trump’s reaffirmation of his goal to absorb Canada comes after a microphone left on at the Canada-U.S. Economic Summit overheard Trudeau admit that Trump’s threat to take over his northern neighbor is a “real thing.”
“I suggest that not only does the Trump administration know how many critical minerals we have but that may be even why they keep talking about absorbing us and making us the 51st state,” Trudeau reportedly said.
“They’re very aware of our resources, of what we have, and they very much want to be able to benefit from those,” he continued. “But Mr. Trump has it in mind that one of the easiest ways of doing that is absorbing our country, and it is a real thing.”
While Trump appears to want to go ahead with his plan, polls show that the vast majority of Canadians, 90%, oppose Trump’s proposition that Canada become part of the United States, suggesting that conservative-minded Canadians are also in objection to such a move.
While Trump’s comments were initially passed off as a joke by many, his persistently referring to Canada as the “51st state” and threatening to use “economic force” to overtake Canada has been met with bipartisan blowback from Canadian officials.
Conservative Party of Canada leader Pierre Poilievre, a frontrunner for prime minister in the next election, has had choice words for Trump, vowing that Canada will “never” become a U.S. “state.”
However, Trump’s threats seem to have some force behind them regardless of public opinion polling, with the president reneging on a 25 percent tariff on Canadian imports just hours before they were set to go into effect. The tariffs have not been ruled out, but merely paused for 30 days while the two governments work toward a solution.