President Donald Trump, in his exclusive interview with TIME on the occasion of his first 100 days in office, said that when he speaks of Canada as the 51st state of the US, he’s not trolling, as he actually thinks that is the only way to go.
“But I’m really not trolling. Canada is an interesting case. We lose $200 to $250 billion a year supporting Canada. And I asked a man who I called Governor Trudeau. I said, ‘Why? Why do you think we’re losing so much money supporting you? Do you think that’s right? Do you think that’s appropriate for another country to make it possible, for a country to sustain and he was unable to give me an answer, but it costs us over $200 billion a year to take care of Canada?'” Trump said.
“We’re taking care of their military. We’re taking care of every aspect of their lives, and we don’t need them to make cars for us. In fact, we don’t want them to make cars for us. We want to make our own cars. We don’t need their lumber. We don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything from Canada. And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state,” Trump said.
Liberal leader Mark Carney had a call with Donald Trump on March 28. Carney said the issue of 51st state was brought up during the call, though he said Trump was respectful for the country as a sovereign nation.
“The president says lots of things, but the essence of the discussion and where we moved the conversation to, was exactly what I said,” Carney said during a campaign stop in Port Moody, BC, Thursday. “The president has certain things in his mind, that he reverts back to all the time,” Carney said. “We had discussions as sovereign nations. We agreed as sovereign nations that these negotiations will begin after the election on Monday.”
