Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau recommended that President-elect Trump’s suggestion that Canada turn out to be America’s “51st state” was a distraction from the tariff risk.
“I do know that as a profitable negotiator, he likes to maintain folks a bit off stability. The 51st state, that’s not going to occur,” Trudeau instructed MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki” on Sunday. “It’s only a non-starter. Canadians are extremely pleased with being Canadian. However folks at the moment are speaking about that, versus speaking about what impression 25% tariffs [has] on metal and aluminum coming into the USA, on power, whether or not it is oil and gasoline or electrical energy.”
“No American needs to pay 25% extra for electrical energy or oil and gasoline coming in from Canada,” Trudeau stated within the interview with Psaki, President Biden’s former White Home press secretary. “That’s one thing I feel folks have to pay a bit extra consideration to. And maybe the concept of a 51st state is distracting a bit bit from a really actual query that can improve the price of dwelling for People and hurt a buying and selling relationship that works extraordinarily effectively.”
Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports. The president-elect additionally stated that if Canada merged with the U.S., taxes would lower and there can be no tariffs.
The president-elect has additionally taken photographs at Trudeau, referring to him because the “governor” of Canada. Final Monday, Trudeau announced that he would resign as Canada’s prime minister as soon as his Liberal Celebration chooses a brand new chief on March 9.
Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau introduced his upcoming resignation to the media outdoors Rideau Cottage on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025, in Ottawa. (AP/Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
“From my very first conversations with him again in 2016, he instructed me how a lot he admires Canada, how a lot he appreciates and likes us, so there’s a specific amount of flattery on this that he thinks that we’re as nice as we’re,” Trudeau stated of Trump on Sunday. “He’s proper, we’re nice. We’re additionally very, very pleased with being Canadian. In case you discuss to any Canadian, you ask them to outline what it’s to be Canadian, they’ll discuss all types of various issues, however one of many issues we’ll level out is, ‘and we’re not People.’”
On Trudeau’s trip to Mar-a-Lago in November, the Canadian prime minister stated the subject of the U.S. annexing Canada did come up, however Trudeau stated as soon as he joked that Canada might annex Vermont or California as a type of commerce, Trump “instantly determined it was not that humorous anymore, and we moved on to a distinct dialog.”
“This isn’t out of the blue that he’s doing this, however my focus needs to be not on one thing that he’s speaking about that won’t ever occur, however extra on one thing that may effectively occur, that if he does select to go ahead with tariffs that elevate the prices of nearly the whole lot for Americans, that on prime of that, we’re going to have a sturdy response to that,” Trudeau stated.
“We’re prepared to reply with tariffs as vital,” Trudeau stated.
Canadian officers say that if Trump follows by way of along with his risk of punishing tariffs, Canada would take into account slapping retaliatory tariffs on American orange juice, bathrooms and a few metal merchandise.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau leaves his lodge as he heads to fulfill President-elect Donald Trump, in West Palm Seaside, Florida, on Nov. 29, 2024. (CHANDAN KHANNA/AFP through Getty Photos)
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Trudeau recalled that Trump beforehand put tariffs on imports of metal and aluminum throughout his first time period, and Canada responded by placing tariffs on bourbon, Harley Davidson bikes, orange juice, enjoying playing cards and different such objects that Trudeau argued Canadians might simply discover replacements for.
“It ended up inflicting plenty of loss in American companies for whom Canada is their primary export accomplice. We’re the primary export accomplice for about 35 totally different U.S. states, and something that thickens the border between us finally ends up costing Americans and American jobs. That’s not what President Trump received elected to do,” Trudeau stated. “I do know he received elected to attempt to make life simpler for all People, to help American employees. These are issues which are going to harm them.”
Justin Trudeau through the funeral service of late former President Jimmy Carter on the Washington Nationwide Cathedral in Washington, DC, on Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (Al Drago/Bloomberg through Getty Photos)
Trump stated final week that the U.S. doesn’t want oil – or the rest – from Canada, however virtually 1 / 4 of the oil that the U.S. consumes every day comes from Canada. The energy-rich western province of Alberta exports 4.3 million barrels of oil a day to the U.S., based on the Related Press. Knowledge from the USA Power Info Administration exhibits that the U.S. consumes 20 million barrels a day, and produces about 13.2 million barrels a day.
Canada, a founding accomplice of NATO and residential to greater than 40 million folks, can be the highest export vacation spot for 36 U.S. states. Practically $2.7 billion price of products and providers cross the border every day.
Trump has stated that he would rethink his tariff risk if Canada made enhancements in managing safety on the Canada-U.S. border, which he and his advisers see as a possible entry level for unlawful immigrants.
Trudeau has stated that lower than 1% of unlawful immigrants and fentanyl cross into the U.S. from Canada.
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However, after his meeting with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, Trudeau introduced a rise in spending on border safety, expressing willingness to handle Trump’s issues in hopes that he would rethink his tariff risk.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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