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Trump’s mocking of Trudeau spurs a debate about the future of US-Canada relations
The president-elect recently remarked that Canada should become the 51st state.
Justin Trudeau and Donald Trump. / Reuters
President-elect Donald Trump on Dec.10 mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, setting in motion a debate over the future of US-Canada relations.
On his Truth Social account, Trump wrote: “It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada. I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon so that we may continue our in depth talks on Tariffs and Trade, the results of which will be truly spectacular for all!"
This is not the first time that Trump has mocked Trudeau. In the last week of November, Trump joked suggesting in a lighter vein at a dinner meeting he held with Trudeau that why not Canada become the 51st state of the US. He has later repeated this joke several times.
Earlier on Dec.8, during the Meet the Press programme organized by a major media channel, Trump said: “If we’re going to subsidize them, let them become a state [of the U.S.],” while jokingly threatening that the US should stop “subsidizing” Canada.
Politicians and social scientists are wondering at the intent of his continuous “mocking”.
The latest post describing Trudeau as a “governor” went public hours after the Canadian PM spoke at a Halifax Chamber of Commerce event. Trudeau was quoted as saying that Canada would retaliate against the 25 per cent tariffs threatened by Trump.
It was Trump who set the ball rolling with his Truth Social post on Nov.25 declaring his intent to impose tariffs on Canada and Mexico if they refuse to tighten their border security. Trump was referring to large-scale infiltration into the US of “illegal aliens” from both Canada and Mexico besides the smuggling of drugs, including Fentanyl. Though the Canadian PM maintained that smuggling of both illegal immigrants and Fentanyl from Canada was inconsequential compared to the figures of Mexico and promised to strengthen the borders to effectively control the smuggling, the US President-elect mocked him.
After Trump’s Nov.25 announcement threatening to impose a 25 per cent duty on all imports from Canada and Mexico, Trudeau accompanied by a delegation, including a member of his Cabinet, flew to Florida to meet him at his private Mar-a-Lago club to discuss trade and border security. This is when Trump reportedly joked for the first time about Trudeau becoming the governor of a 51st US state if the Canadian economy cannot survive despite its trade surplus with the United States.
“Let us not kid ourselves in any way, shape or form: 25 percent tariffs on everything going to the United States would be devastating for the Canadian economy,” Trudeau said. He added that Canada will “respond to unfair tariffs in several ways, and we’re still looking at the right ways to respond, but our responses to the unfair steel and aluminium tariffs were what ended up lifting those tariffs last time.”
After the recent post, some members of the Liberal caucus, including Cabinet ministers, were questioned by the media about the continuous tirade, launched by Trump.
“I am so proud of our country. I am so proud of the true north, strong and free,” said Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland during a press conference in Ottawa. “I also want to say to Canadians that our government is determined to defend the national interest.”
Freeland would not comment on whether she takes Trump seriously on comments of making Canada a US state. “That is a question really for the president-elect,” she said.
Another Cabinet Minister to comment on the recent developments was Transport Minister and President of the Treasury Board, Anita Anand.
While talking to media persons, she said: “We have to continue to remember that Canada is a sovereign country.”
Truth Social should not be used as a source for public policy, remarked Immigration Minister Marc Miller.
Health Minister Mark Holland said, “We cannot react to everything, we need to focus on being mature as a country and taking responsibility for the things for which we have control.”
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