Key points
- Trump wants to reach Canada’s critical minerals: Trudeau
- Trudeau’s made these comments behind closed doors
- The comments were captured by a microphone
ISLAMABAD: Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau, has told business leaders that he believes President Donald Trump might be serious about taking his country.
He suggested that Trump had given the idea of taking over Canada and making it the “51st state” because he wanted to reach the country’s critical minerals, according to CNN.
“Mr Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country and it is a real thing,” the prime minister said.
Trudeau’s remarks were made behind closed doors at a Canada-US Economic Summit in Toronto, however, were captured in part by a microphone and were reported on by different Canadian media outlets.
More than 100 business leaders along with public policy experts attended the summit and were hosted by the Canadian government’s newly created advisory council on Canada-US relations.
Trump’s threat
Trudeau’s comments come after Trump threatened Canada with a 25 per cent tariff on all its exports to the US, except for energy exports which would be taxed at a lower rate of 10 per cent.
The tariffs were to be imposed earlier this week, however, Trump granted Canada – as well as Mexico, who had been threatened with similar tariffs – a last-minute reprieve for 30 days in exchange for further efforts to increase security at their shared borders.
Trump repeatedly suggested, both in posts on his social media platform Truth Social and in remarks to reporters, that Canada could become a US state instead to avoid the tariffs. He has also referred to the country’s prime minister as “Governor Trudeau.”
Avoiding tariffs
“What I’d like to see – Canada become our 51st state,” Trump said earlier this week at the Oval Office when asked about what concessions Canada could offer, reports BBC.
Trump first mentioned the idea of including Canada at a dinner with Trudeau in December, shortly after he first threatened the tariffs.
Canadian officials dismissed it as a joke, at that time.
However, Trudeau’s comments on Friday suggest a shift in how Canada might be viewing Trump’s remarks.
An Ipsos poll conducted in January shows that the majority of Canadians (80 per cent) reject their country becoming part of the US, and would never vote ‘yes’ in any referendum on the issue.
Approval of Congress
Such a step would also require the acceptance of both chambers of Congress in the US and would need a majority of 60 votes to get through the Senate.
Trump’s threats have caused nationwide anxiety in Canada. Around three-quarters of Canadian exports are sold to the US, and steep tariffs on those goods could deeply hurt Canada’s economy and threaten thousands of job losses.
Some provincial politicians have been starting “buy local” campaigns to boost Canadians to spend their money at home instead of in the US.
Some Canadians have cancelled trips to the south of the border in protest.
However, officials have also tried to push closer relations with the US in the wake of the tariffs, indicating that Canada was available to establish a Canada-US alliance on energy and critical minerals.
Energy Minister Jonathan Wilkinson, who has been in Washington DC this week to meet his American counterparts, said closer collaboration would be a “win-win” for both countries.
At Friday’s summit, Trudeau said Canada was facing the possibility of “a more challenging, long-term political situation with the United States”, and must find pathways to strengthen its own economy and trade relations in the years ahead.
