Justifying his claims over Canada as the USA's 51st state, US President-elect Donald Trump during a press conference on Friday underscored how tariffs will be eventually imposed on Ottawa as he brought to attention the "massive deficits" the US is having from the neighbour.
About his reference to former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau as Governor Trudeau, Trump said, "I called them Governor Trudeau because they should be the 51st state. It would make a great state. And the people of Canada like it. They pay lower taxes."
"They have a very small military. They pay less than 1 per cent. They're about the lowest payer in NATO. They're supposed to pay much more. They haven't been paying a lot. They have a lot of problems" Trump added.
Canadians find the idea interesting: Trump
Trump clamed that Canadians find the idea 'interesting' as he said, "It was stated pretty strongly a couple of weeks ago about Canada and people laughed and now they're all saying, well, it's very interesting."
The President-elect went on to assert that the US has been subsidizing Canada to the tune of USD 200 and USD 250 billion a year, adding that the US has 'massive deficits'. He alleged Canada of taking at least 20 per cent of America's car business. Trump further added, "I'd rather have it done in Detroit or have it done in South Carolina or any other state that does cars. And we have a lot of them. We don't need Canada for that."
Trump on meeting with Trudeau
Trump further noted, "We don't need Canada for lumber because we have big forests that we have...we don't need anything. We don't need their fuel. We don't need their energy. We don't need their oil and gas. We don't need anything that they have. And I said to Trudeau, I said, why are we subsidizing you $200 and $250 billion a year? He said, I really don't know. And I said, well, I don't know either. I said, what would happen to Canada if we didn't? He said Canada would be obliterated if that happened. I said, then Canada should be a 51st state. And that's where we are now."
Earlier, Justin Trudeau said that Trump's claims over Canada are intended to divert from the consequences of Trump's tariff threats.
(With ANI inputs)
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