President-elect Donald Trump said at one point during a dinner with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday night that if Canada can’t deal with the economic impact of punitive 25% tariffs on its products, He joked that Canada should become the 51st state of the United States.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who attended the intimate Mar-a-Lago dinner with Trudeau, said Trump’s joke was clearly a joke and did not imply any serious plans to annex Canada. .
“The conversation was supposed to be light-hearted during the three-hour social evening at the presidential mansion in Florida over America’s Thanksgiving long weekend. The president would tell jokes; the president would make fun of us. , of course it was.” It’s not a serious comment at all,” LeBlanc said.
“I think the fact that there’s a warm and cordial relationship between the two leaders and that the president can joke like that is a positive thing,” he said.
Prime Minister Trudeau and a small Canadian contingent, including Premier LeBlanc and Chief of Staff Katie Telford, met with President Trump in a largely social evening at Mar-a-Lago that included issues such as tariffs and They also discussed what Canada can do to strengthen tariffs. Borders to stop the flow of drugs and migrants.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who was part of a small Canadian contingent who dined with President Trump at Mar-a-Lago last week, told reporters about Trump’s comment that Canada could become a 51st state. answered the question. LeBlanc said it was never a serious comment.
After President Trump first threatened tariffs last week, Canada pledged to acquire more helicopters and drones to strengthen border security.
The flow of migrants and illegal drugs across the northern border is a small fraction of the flow from Mexico, but President Trump remains concerned about the flow of drugs and guns northward. I have concerns about what I do.
Asked what President Trump specifically said about Canada’s annexation, LeBlanc said that his 51st State of the Union address was just one of the “funny and funny” moments of the night, and that discussing trade issues meant “Canada He emphasized that there were moments when he was able to do a good job. and border security.
He said the gathering was “very productive” and there was real warmth and cordiality between the Canadians and Americans at the table.
Fox News, which first reported Trump’s joke, said the comment prompted nervous laughter from Trudeau and the assembled Canadians.
Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc gives inside information about the Mar-a-Lago dinner between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President-elect Donald Trump as Canada seeks to counter the threat of proposed 25% tariffs. Provide.
Gerald Butts, a former senior adviser to Prime Minister Trudeau, said in a social media post Tuesday that “Mr. Trump constantly used this 51st state line against Mr. Trudeau in his first term,” which he said said it was a bargain used to “rattle Canada’s cage.”
“When someone wants to surprise you, don’t do it,” Butts warned.
John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser, worked closely with Trump on the Canada-U.S. file. He said that although the president-elect does not really like Prime Minister Trudeau, he had no choice but to “accept” him given the importance of the bilateral relationship.
He said Trump has joked and flirted with Prime Minister Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron, another world leader he is said to have “tolerated”, and has “derisively interacted with them in meetings”. “There was a tendency to mix things up,” he said.
On Tuesday afternoon, President Trump posted an AI-generated image on social media depicting himself standing next to a Canadian flag overlooking a mountain range.
The Instagram and Truth Social posts were captioned, “Oh Canada!” The mountain in the image appeared to be the Matterhorn on the border of Switzerland and Italy.
While talk of a US takeover was clearly a joke, there is no doubt that Canada has some of the natural resources the US needs.
In addition to supplying Americans; Approximately 4 million barrels of oil per day While this number has skyrocketed in recent years, Canada is also a major supplier of critical minerals used in everything from clean energy and smartphones to military defense systems, fertilizers and medical equipment.
Canada is a major mining country and is located in some of the world’s largest deposits of these minerals.
Those products became much more valuable to Trump. China is currently moving to ban exports. Several rare minerals have been exported to the United States, escalating a long-simmering conflict over technology.
During the presidential campaign, President Trump also talked about working with Canada to use more of its tap water to reverse severe drought conditions in the western United States, but some experts say thinking He said his idea was nonsense.
LeBlanc said the interconnectedness and interdependence of the Canadian and U.S. economies was the message Prime Minister Trudeau brought to Friday’s dinner.
Prime Minister Trudeau meets with Mr. Sin Poièvre
Prime Minister Trudeau held a meeting on Parliament Hill with Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre and other opposition leaders to explain his trip to Florida.
The meeting, one of the first face-to-face meetings between Trudeau and Poièvre in such a setting, comes as Canada grapples with President Trump’s threatened tariffs and plans that could destroy the country’s economy. It was held in
Green Party Leader Elizabeth May told reporters after the meeting that Prime Minister Trudeau asked leaders to reach out and communicate with U.S. officials who could make the case that the tariff war is bad for both countries. .
Prime Minister May also said she asked Trudeau not to influence President Trump’s claims that the Canada-U.S. border is somehow destroyed and overrun with migrants and drugs.
Prime Minister May said Trudeau called on the US side to present a united front.
“We were reminded not to say things that are not true and not to influence President Trump’s rhetoric,” she said.
The leaders said they were told that “it will be helpful in the coming weeks and months not to in any way amplify the messaging and language that the Trump administration is using to attack Canada.”
In a meeting with all party leaders on Tuesday, Green Party Leader Elizabeth May said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told the group that if MPs do not amplify the Trump administration’s messages and rhetoric, they will be forced to continue working in the coming weeks and months. said that he thought it would be helpful. Used to attack Canada.
Nevertheless, after meeting with the prime minister today, Poièvre told reporters the border was “broken” and criticized Trudeau during questioning, claiming the government had lost control of immigration.
“The prime minister has destroyed our immigration system, he has destroyed our banks, he has destroyed our borders. We need to fix those things and put Canada first.”
Prime Minister Trudeau and his team were not given assurances that Canada would be exempted from the tariffs promised by President Trump at Friday night’s dinner. For this reason, Poilievre deemed the talks a failure.
Poièvre said he asked Trudeau to emphasize to Americans how the tariffs would be detrimental to both Canadian and U.S. businesses and workers.
He said it should be “easy” for Canada to avoid tariffs once the U.S. understands the damage it could do to its economic health.
After a meeting with all party leaders about the prime minister’s dinner with President-elect Donald Trump in Florida last week, Conservative Leader Pierre Poièvre said that the tariffs that Trump had threatened would affect both the United States and Canada. We discussed what kind of damage it would cause.
“The right thing for Americans is to increase free trade with our best friend and closest ally here in Canada,” Poièvre said.
But this is a claim that Prime Minister Trudeau, Canada and the United States’ special envoys, and Canadian Ambassador to the United States Kirsten Hillman have been making against President Trump and his team for months. Still, the threat of tariffs remains.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh left the meeting saying the federal government needs to hire more Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) officers to increase patrols and better protect the border. That is something the government is also considering.
After meeting with opposition leaders and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, National Democratic Party Leader Jagmeet Singh said trade threats from the incoming Trump administration must be dealt with decisively. Singh said he supports hiring 1,100 more workers at the Canada Border Services Agency and expanding the role of federal forces.
With so much uncertainty, Industry Minister François-Philippe Champagne said it was important that Trudeau accept Florida’s invitation.
“Prime Minister Trudeau is the first G7 leader to be hosted by President Trump. This is evidence of the strategic nature of our relationship. When President-elect Trump invites… Prime Minister Trudeau will be the first G7 leader to attend in March. “A Lago, that will send a huge signal to the world,” he told reporters.
Regarding Mr. Poilievre’s criticism that the event was a fiasco as Canada could continue to bear the brunt of tariffs in the new year, Mr. Champagne said Canada’s political leaders are united in the face of these threats. said it was necessary.
“Historically, Canadians have always come together and spoken to the world with one voice. The current leadership of the opposition should learn from history. Promote Canadian interests, workers and industry. The best way is to speak with one voice.”
