Trump tells Trudeau Canada should become 51st state if he’s afraid tariffs would kill economy: report

Fox News’s Peter Doocy reported Monday, “Tonight, we’re getting new details about that Trump-Trudeau dinner from two people who were at the table. We are told that when Justin Trudeau told President-elect Trump that new tariffs would kill the Canadian economy, Trump joked to him that if Canada can’t survive without ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion a year then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau could become its governor.”

After Trump threatened to slap a 25 percent tariff on all Canadian goods, Trudeau flew down to Mar-a-Lago with his staff to meet with the president-elect Friday night. The visit captured the attention of cross-border media as speculation mounted as to what Trudeau would promise Trump in terms of border security.

Before meeting with Trump in person, Trudeau had promised to increase border security and upon returning from Florida, Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc who had accompanied Trudeau to Mar-a-Lago said there would be “visible and muscular enforcement” at the border in an interview with CBC News. However, during that interview LeBlanc said talking about border security with the US amounted to “a reassurance exercise. We believe the border is secure.”

Asked by CBC host Rosemary Barton if he believed Trump “likes Justin Trudeau very much,” LeBlanc responded, “Very much … At the end, [Trump] walked us to the cars, to the front door of Mar-a-Lago. He said to the prime minister, ‘Keep in touch. Call me any time. Talk soon.’ It was a very cordial, warm dinner. As I say, the president, at one point with his iPad, was controlling the music. He was asking what people wanted to hear, in terms of music. It was a very warm, cordial meeting.”

But Official Opposition Leader Pierre Poilievre said Trudeau needs a “Canada First” strategy to secure the border, cut taxes and eliminate caps on oil and gas production. He said Wednesday, “Let your motto be, Canada first, Canada last and Canada always.” On Tuesday he urged Trudeau to immediately commit to halting plans for “quadrupling the carbon tax to 61 cents a liter” that he said would “push our economy into a nightmare and a tailspin.”

The Conservative Party of Canada leader is also pushing Trudeau cancel natural gas and oil caps that “would see Alberta and Saskatchewan produce 35 percent less energy at a time when we need those jobs," and that Trudeau also needs to increase defense spending.