President-elect Donald Trump's jest to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau about annexing his nation as the United States' 51st state appeared to continue with a computer-generated photo shared on his social media of himself with a Canadian flag and the caption "Oh Canada!" Tuesday night.
The post showing Trump standing on a cliff looking ahead at a mountain that turned out to be an image of the European Matterhorn, comes one day after reports in the New York Post and elsewhere about Trump's dinnertime joke to Trudeau last Friday at Mar-a-Lago.
Trump has threatened to impose 25% tariffs on Canadian and Mexican imports unless the countries stop migrants and illicit drugs from crossing their borders into the United States.
According to reports, Trump told Trudeau, who pleaded with him not to implement a 25% tariff against his country, that if Canada couldn't handle the tariffs, then it should become the United States' 51st state.
"So your country can't survive unless it's ripping off the US to the tune of $100 billion?" Trump reportedly told Trudeau, referring to the U.S. trade deficit with its northern neighbor.
He also told Trudeau that he could serve as the governor of the 51st state, even while admitting that "prime minister" is a better title for the Canadian leader.
Sources at the dinner said Trudeau laughed "nervously" at Trump's remarks.
Further, when someone at the dinner table said Canada would be "very liberal," Trump reportedly said the country could be split into two states, one liberal and one conservative.
After the dinner, Trudeau posted a photo of himself and Trump, both smiling, on his X page and commented "Thanks for dinner last night, President Trump. I look forward to the work we can do together, again."
Trump posted Saturday that his conversation with Trudeau was "very productive."
Newsmax has reached out to the Trump team and Trudeau's office for comment.
Meanwhile, Canadian Public Safety Minister Dominic LeBlanc, who was at the dinner, confirmed that Trump was joking with his comments to Trudeau, reports The Canadian Press on Tuesday.
"The president was telling jokes, the president was teasing us. It was of course on that issue in no way a serious comment," LeBlanc told reporters while heading into a Cabinet meeting.
"In a three-hour social evening at the president's residence in Florida on a long weekend of American Thanksgiving, the conversation was going to be lighthearted," he said. "The president was telling jokes. The president was teasing us."
LeBlanc added that "We had a discussion on trade issues, on border security that was very productive. But the fact that there's a warm, cordial relationship between the two leaders and the president is able to joke like that for us was a positive thing."
Canada will beef up its border security in time for the inauguration of president-elect Donald LeBlanc who also said Tuesday that Canada is planning to increase its border security before Trump's inauguration, The Press also reported.
He did not provide specifics but said the government is finalizing a plan, based on the advice received from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and the Canadian Border Services Agency.
Meanwhile, talk and sometimes jokes have been made about the United States annexing Canada, and Gerald Butts, a former Trudeau senior adviser, urged LinkedIn followers to calm down about Trump's joke, reports Politico.
"Trump used this '51st State' line with Trudeau a lot during his first term," Butts said. "He's doing it to rattle Canadian cages. When someone is trying to get you to freak out, don't."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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