Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reiterated in an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper on "The Lead" Thursday that President-elect Donald Trump's repeated fantasies about acquiring Canada as a U.S. state are never happening.
Trudeau, who this month stepped down as the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada amid electoral struggles, suggested that Trump's real motive is to take the spotlight off his controversial plans to levy massive new tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which economists have warned could be catastrophic for consumers.
"President-elect Trump has been needling you a bit, calling you 'Governor Trudeau,' talking about making Canada the 51st state," said Tapper, noting that the two of them had both been attending the funeral of former President Jimmy Carter that same day. "Did you have any interaction with him today?"
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"No, not — not today," said Trudeau. "But that's not going to happen."
"Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian," Trudeau continued. "One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we're not American. There is such a depth of pride that that's not actually an issue."
On the other hand, he added, "What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who's a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that — by that conversation to take away from the conversation around 25 percent tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete, and everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs. And that's something that I think we need to be focusing on a little bit more."
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