According to reports, Trump suggested to Justin Trudeau that Canada may become the 51st state.

According to Fox News, which cited unnamed sources, Trump proposed making Canada the 51st state after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned him that his proposed tariffs would destroy the country’s economy.

After Trump promised to put a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican products unless the countries reduced the amount of migrants and drugs entering the United States, Trudeau met Trump at the president-elect’s Mar-a-Lago residence in Florida last week.

With around 75% of its exports going to the US, the US is Canada’s biggest trading partner. Currently, the nations trade under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, which was signed into law by Trump and became effective in 2020, and is essentially duty-free.

“We are told that when Trudeau told President-elect Trump that new tariffs would kill the Canadian economy, Trump joked to him that if Canada can’t survive without ripping off the U.S. the tune of one hundred billion dollars a year, then maybe Canada should become the 51st state and Trudeau could become its governor,” Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy told Special Report host Bret Baier on Monday night.

Newsweek has emailed Trudeau’s office and Trump’s transition team for comment.

Since the November 5 presidential election, Trudeau’s trip to Mar-a-Lago was the first time a G7 leader had paid Trump a visit.

Trump said on Saturday that the discussions were very fruitful and that the men talked about trade, illegal immigration, and fentanyl.

After telling reporters that the talk had been excellent, Trudeau posted on X (formerly Twitter): “Thank you for dinner last night, President Trump.” I’m excited to collaborate with you once more.

After a close race in Pennsylvania, U.S. Senator-elect Dave McCormick shared a picture of himself at the Mar-a-Lago meeting, sitting at a table with Trump and Trudeau, on Saturday.

At the table were Mike Waltz, Trump’s national security advisor; Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota, whom Trump has appointed to lead the Interior Department; and Howard Lutnick, his choice for commerce secretary.

Trudeau’s chief of staff, Katie Telford, and Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc were also seen seated around the table.

Prior to Trudeau’s trip to Mar-a-Lago, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo also said that she and Trump had a positive phone discussion on Wednesday.

Sheinbaum Pardo assured reporters during a press conference last Thursday that there would not be a trade war. By the end of 2023, the United States accounted for nearly 83% of Mexico’s exports.

Trump and Sheinbaum Pardo, however, gave different accounts of their chat.

Sheinbaum Pardo pledged to halt migration through Mexico and into the United States, so closing our southern border, according to Trump, who said in a post on Truth Social that the talk was fantastic.

We emphasize that Mexico’s position is to develop bridges between governments and peoples, not to restrict borders, Sheinbaum Pardo later said in a statement.

During a Thanksgiving press conference in Nantucket, Massachusetts, US President Joe Biden, who will be succeeded by Trump in the White House on January 20, criticized the tariff measures.

In answer to a reporter’s question, Biden stated, “I hope he reconsiders it, and I believe it is a counterproductive thing to do.” Starting to ruin those connections is the last thing we should do.

Additionally, if any of the nine nations that comprise the BRICS trading alliance—Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, and the United Arab Emirates—adopt a currency that competes with the US dollar, Trump has threatened to impose 100 percent tariffs on them.

Trump’s warning has been blasted by China. Liu Pengyu, the spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy in the US, told Newsweek on Monday that the US has long exploited its dollar hegemony to spread US inflation to other countries, shift crises, and use it as a geopolitical tool that undermines global financial and economic stability and upends international order.

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