He saw it as good-natured banter when it first landed, but now Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc is not laughing about U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s repeated talk of the U.S. merging with Canada.
“I think he has gone much further than the idea of a joke,” LeBlanc said in French when speaking to reporters in Ottawa on Jan. 8 before the Liberal caucus meeting.
LeBlanc was at Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Nov. 29, 2024, when the incoming president first remarked on making Canada the “51st” U.S. state with “governor” Justin Trudeau at the helm.
The meeting came shortly after Trump threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on Canadian goods over border security concerns. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly told Trump that such punitive measures would kill the Canadian economy. Trump responded that if Canada couldn’t survive with a $100 billion trade surplus with the United States it should perhaps join with its southern neighbour, according to Fox News….