Trump targets Canada with tariff threats—and trolling
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Subscribe to enjoy similar stories. Canada and its prime minister, Justin Trudeau, have a Donald Trump problem. The pair had an at-times rocky relationship during Trump’s first term in the White House, and the president-elect couldn’t resist getting in a dig last week during their impromptu meeting over dinner at Mar-a-Lago, his Florida estate.
Trudeau was complaining about the impact tariffs would have on Canada’s economy, according to people at the dinner, when Trump interjected. If Trudeau didn’t like it, he said, Canada could become America’s 51st state. According to a senior Canadian government official who was at last week’s dinner, Trudeau and his team took the ribbing in stride, but they were conscious of the deeper message: that Trump, as always, is America first—and he didn’t much care what happened to Canada’s economy as a consequence.
The strained personal connection between the two men stands to complicate Canada’s ability to navigate a second Trump term. The incoming president wants to renegotiate a free-trade deal between the two countries, and has said he would levy tariffs of 25% on imports of all goods from Mexico and Canada. Trump has also demanded that Canada invest more in its military and to secure its borders.
Officials from both the U.S. and Canadian sides described the back and forth at Mar-a-Lago, earlier reported by Fox News, as joking. But Trump a few days later continued to troll Trudeau.
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