President-elect Donald Trump reportedly joked to Canadian PM Justin Trudeau that if tariffs are a threat to collapse his country’s economy, then maybe Canada “should become the 51st state.”
The news comes from Fox News senior White House correspondent Peter Doocy, who spoke with two people who were at the dinner table when Trudeau traveled to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Palm Beach, Florida, to discuss the proposal.
Trump last week announced a 25 percent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico, citing the scourge of illegal immigration and the humanitarian crisis involving the flow of fentanyl into the United States.
“On January 20th, as one of my many first Executive Orders, I will sign all necessary documents to charge Mexico and Canada a 25% Tariff on ALL products coming into the United States, and its ridiculous Open Borders,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“This Tariff will remain in effect until such time as Drugs, in particular Fentanyl, and all Illegal Aliens stop this Invasion of our Country! Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long-simmering problem.”
As our RedState colleague Becca Lower reported, Trudeau went straight to Trump to give him his thoughts on the proposed tariffs.
“Our responsibility is to point out that he would not just be harming Canadians, who work so well with the United States, but he would actually be raising prices for Americans citizens as well and hurting American industry and business,” the Canadian PM said.
While Trudeau intended to give Trump a piece of his mind, the President-elect hit him with a doozy instead.
Fox News Bombshell: Trudeau Begged Trump to Back Off Tariffs—Trump’s Response Proves America’s Strength is BACK!
This power move (if true) shows what happens when real leadership takes the stage.
Absolutely DOMINANT. pic.twitter.com/KbFJ3sfeKX
— Wesley Hunt (@WesleyHuntTX) December 3, 2024
“Tonight we’re getting some new details about that Trump-Trudeau dinner from two people who were at the table,” Doocy told Fox anchor Bret Baier.
“We are told that when Trudeau told President-elect Trump that new tariffs would kill the Canadian economy,” Doocy continued, “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.”
We are so back, baby. I mean, we are so back! What an absolute savage.
When Doocy pitched it back to Baier, the host could barely contain his laughter. And who could blame him? That is comedy gold right there.
This isn’t the first time Trump has used Trudeau as his own personal punching bag. The Canadian PM tried to upstage then-President Trump in 2018 during a signing ceremony for a trade pact with Mexico.
So Trump countered by signing the pact with a big ol’ pen to upstage the others.
The Daily Mail at the time reported that Trump used “his large sharpie pen, dwarfing the regular pen used by his North American counterparts” to sign his copy.
As a result, you could see Donald’s signature from about three miles away.
Pres Trump, Pena Nieto & Trudeau signed the new NAFTA deal this morning in Argentina.
It appears Trump used a Sharpie style pen while the others used a regular pen.
Check out the difference in those signatures – bit of a presidential power play? (h/t @alex_mallin for the pics) pic.twitter.com/0LllTThsJ7
— Karen Travers (@karentravers) November 30, 2018
Earlier this year, Trump cited a conspiracy theory suggesting Trudeau is the son of former Cuban president Fidel Castro.
“They say he’s the son of Fidel Castro and could be. Anything’s possible in this world,” he said.
Anything is possible, indeed. Even Canada becoming the 51st state.
