President-elect Trump suggested to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last week that if a tariff for failing to address trade and immigration issues would kill the northern economy’s neighbor, it might have to become the 51st state, sources told Fox News.
Last Friday, Trudeau flew unannounced to Mar-a-Lago after Trump threatened to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products. Specifically, Trump is threatening to impose 25% tariffs on Canada and Mexico over their inability to curb the flow of illegal immigrants and illegal drugs from those countries into the US.
Now new details are beginning to emerge about the meeting between the two men, which Trump called “very productive.”
Before we nibbled on crab cocktails and guzzled oysters, the issues of tariffs, border security and trade deficits took center stage.
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Donald Trump (R) shakes hands with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a meeting at Winfield House, London on December 3, 2019. (Getty Images)
According to two people at the table who heard the discussion, Trump, while warm and welcoming, was very direct when it came to what he wanted from his counterpart in the North.
Trump paraphrased the discussion Trudeau that Canada the US border has failed by allowing large amounts of drugs and people to cross, including illegal immigrants from more than seventy different countries.
Sources say Trump became more animated when it came to the U.S. trade deficit with Canada, which he estimated at more than $100 billion.
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Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau met with President-elect Trump at Mar-a-Lago last Friday. (Dean Casavechia/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The president-elect told the prime minister that if Canada cannot resolve its border problems and trade deficit, he will impose a 25% tariff on all Canadian goods on his first day back in power.
Trudeau told Trump he can’t raise the tariff because it would completely kill the Canadian economy. Trump responded – asking: So your country can’t survive unless it rips off the US to the tune of $100 billion?
Trump then suggested to Trudeau that Canada become the 51st state, prompting nervous laughter from the prime minister and others, sources told Fox News.
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Trudeau met with newly elected President Trump at his lavish Mar-a-Lago resort. (Getty Images)
But he continued, telling Trudeau that prime minister is a better title, although he could still be governor of the 51st state.
Sources told Fox News that someone at the table intervened and advised Trump that Canada would be a very liberal state, prompting even more laughter. Trump suggested that Canada could potentially become two states: one conservative and one liberal.
He told Trudeau that if he can’t meet his list of demands without defrauding the US in trade, then maybe Canada really should become a state or two and Trudeau could become governor.
Although sources say the exchange was met with much laughter, Trump delivered the message that he expected change on January 20.
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The nearly three-hour conversation continued on several other topics, and at the end the Canadian guests called the dinner “very friendly and very positive,” although no mention was made of becoming the 51st state.
Fox News Digital reached out to both the Trump camp and Trudeau’s team about the statements, but neither immediately responded.
