President Donald Trump discussed his desire for Canada to become the 51st state in an interview with Time Magazine published this week.
The president told the magazine that he is “really not trolling” and is serious about the endeavor.
During the interview, the reporter said, “You’ve talked about acquiring Greenland, taking control of the Panama Canal, making Canada the 51st state. Maybe you’re trolling a little bit on that one. I don’t know.”
Trump replied, “Actually, no, I’m not.”
“Well, do you want to grow the American empire?” the interviewer asked.
Trump responded:
Well, it depends as an empire, it wasn’t, these are not things that we had before, so I’d view it a little bit differently if we had the right opportunity. Yeah, I think Greenland would be very well off if they I think it’s important for us for national security and even international security. I think Canada, what you said that, “Well, that one, I might be trolling.” 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?”
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.
Canadian politicians have repeatedly rejected the idea, which became a major talking point in campaigns for people vying to replace former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
