Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has pushed back against any idea of Canada becoming the 51st state of the United States, stating “it's not going to happen”.
Trudeau discussed President-Elect Donald Trump's repeated comments that Canada could become a part of the U.S. while speaking to former White House press secretary Jen Psaki on MSNBC's “Inside”.
"The 51st state, it's not going to happen," he said.
Trump has upped the ante recently with repeated comments about annexing Canada, and calling the Prime Minister "Governor Trudeau", in reference to the position held by leaders of U.S states.
"You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security," Trump said.
“Canada and the United States, that would really be something.”
Trudeau re-iterated his stance earlier in the week, saying there was not "a snowball's chance in hell" that the two countries would merge.
However, there was concerns expressed over the impact of tariffs on Canadians and Americans, with the president-elect announcing his plan to implement 25% tariffs on goods coming from Canada, a move which would have a significant impact on Canada's economy, and could lead to retaliatory tariffs.
"Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian, but people are now talking about that rather than the impact [of] 25% tariffs," Trudeau said. "No American wants to pay 25% more for electricity or oil and gas coming in from Canada."