Donald Trump has claimed Canada would ‘cease to exist’ as a nation without American ‘subsidies.’
Since becoming president, Trump has said on several occasions that he believes Canada should be part of the USA and become the 51st. This hasn’t gone down well with Canadians. and relations have broken down between the two nations.
Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office this week, Trump said he was “working very well” with Canada.
But he continued: “Why are we spending $200bn to support and subsidise another country?”
The $200bn figure is one Trump has said before, and is based on what he claims the trade deficit is between the US and Canada. However, the figure has been widely disproven.
He told reporters that Canada “works great” as a state, adding: “Ninety-five per cent of what they do is they buy from us and they sell to us.”
Trump then went on to claim that former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau had told him personally that Canada would no longer exist as a nation without American support.
“Because if they didn’t have us, and if we didn’t spend that money, as Trudeau told me, they would cease to exist,” Trump continued.
“He [Trudeau] said that to me. They would cease to exist, which is true, certainly as a country.”
Since Mark Carney replaced Trudeau as prime minister of Canada, Trump has somewhat dialled back his talk of Canada becoming America’s 51st state.
However, 25% tariffs are still in place on Canadian goods and relations are still fraught between the two countries.
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