Is the United States poised to becoming much larger under Donald Trump?
A recent visit with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has many speculation whether Trump will advocate for Canada becoming the 51st state.
Here’s what went down.
Trump suggested Canada become the 51st U.S. state during a recent dinner with Trudeau, according to Fox News.
According to the report, Trump made the comment in response to Trudeau raising concerns that Trump’s threatened tariffs on Canada would damage Canada’s economy.
And those close to Trudeau indicated that the comment was a joke and meant to be light hearted.
“The president was telling jokes. The president was teasing us. It was, of course, on that issue, in no way a serious comment,” said Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the dinner at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago club.
LeBlanc described it as a three-hour social evening at the president’s residence in Florida on a long weekend of American Thanksgiving.
“The conversation was going to be light-hearted,” he said.
He called the relations warm and cordial and said the fact that “the president is able to joke like that for us” indicates good relations.
On Tuesday, Trump appeared to continue with the joke, posting on his Truth Social platform an AI-generated image of himself standing on a mountain with a Canadian flag next to him with the caption “Oh Canada!”
Gerald Butts, a former top adviser to Trudeau and a close friend, said Trump has done this before.
“Trump used the ”51st State” line with Trudeau a lot during his first term,” Butts wrote in a post on LinkedIn. “When someone is trying to get you to freak out, don’t. #protip”
Earlier last week, Trump threatened to impose a 25% tax on all products entering the U.S. from Canada and Mexico unless they stem the flow of migrants and drugs.
Trudeau requested the meeting in a bid to avoid the tariffs by convincing Trump that the northern border is nothing like the U.S. southern border with Mexico.