Canada’s outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday said that US President-elect Donald Trump‘s comments about Canada becoming America’s “51st state” have diverted attention from the potential harm that 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports would have on US consumers, Associated Press reported. Trump had threatened to impose 25 per cent tariffs on all Canadian imports.
In an interview with MSNBC, Trudeau said, “The 51st state, that’s not going to happen.”
He added, “But people are talking about that, as opposed to talking about what impact 25 per cent tariffs (has) on steel and aluminium coming into the United States.”
Trudeau further said, “No American wants to pay 25 per cent more for electricity or oil and gas coming in from Canada. That’s something I think people need to pay a little more attention to.”
Trump has also said that if Canada merged with the US, taxes would decrease and there would be no tariffs. “I know that as a successful negotiator, he likes to keep people off balance,” Trudeau said of Trump’s threats to use economic force to turn Canada into the 51st state.
Trump has also characterised the US trade deficit with Canada – a natural resource-rich nation that supplies the US with commodities like oil – as a subsidy.
Canadian officials say that if Trump follows through with his threat of punishing tariffs, Canada would consider slapping retaliatory tariffs on American orange juice, toilets and some steel products. Already during Trump’s first term in the White House, Canada responded to Trump’s tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium with its own on American products like bourbon, Harley Davidson motorcycles and playing cards.
“He got elected to try and make life easier for all Americans, to support American workers,” Trudeau said about Trump.
“These (tariffs) are things that are going to hurt them.”
On Thursday Trudeau recalled about a conversation he had with Donald Trump in November of the previous year, when Trump proposed the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state of the US.
Trudeau shared that he had humorously responded to Trump’s suggestion by offering to trade a few places, such as Vermont or California, in exchange.
However, Trudeau, who recently announced his decision to step down as Canada’s Prime Minister, revealed that Trump did not find his humorous reply amusing after the exchange.
Faced with the upcoming challenge of Trump’s second term and his party trailing in the polls, the struggling Canadian prime minister announced his resignation on Monday. He will be replaced on March 9, when his Liberal party selects a new leader.
Trump says ‘US does not need anything from Canada’
Last week, Trump claimed that the US doesn’t need oil or anything else from Canada, even though nearly a quarter of the US’s daily oil consumption comes from Canada. The energy-rich province of Alberta exports 4.3 million barrels of oil a day to the US.
According to the US Energy Information Administration, the US consumes 20 million barrels of oil daily and produces around 13.2 million barrels.
As a founding member of NATO with over 40 million people, Canada is also the top export destination for 36 US states, with nearly USD 2.7 billion worth of goods and services crossing the border daily.
Trump said he would reconsider his tariff threat if Canada made improvements in managing border security, which he and his advisors view as a potential entry point for undocumented migrants.
In response, Trudeau emphasised that less than 1% of illegal immigrants and fentanyl enter the US from Canada.
After a meeting in November at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida, Trudeau announced increased border security spending, expressing his willingness to address Trump’s concerns in hopes that he would back down from his tariff threat.
(With Associated Press inputs)
