US President-elect Donald Trump wants to use “economic force” to pressurise Canada into becoming the 51st state of the US, citing concerns over military assistance and trade imbalances. He said that he intended to impose “substantial” tariffs on goods from both Canada and Mexico.

Trump expressed that the US absorbing Canada “would really be something” and highlighted his concerns about the trade deficits and US military support for its northern neighbour. “We’ve been good neighbours, but we can’t do it forever,” Trump said.

When asked if he could rule out a military confrontation to secure US control over Greenland or the Panama Canal, Trump said, “I’m not going to commit to that,” though he added, “We need them for economic security.”

Responding to Trump’s comments, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau took to X (formerly Twitter) to state, “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States.”

Trump’s comments were part of his bigger argument that the US subsidizes Canada and that the US could do without Canadian products like cars and milk. “Canada, don’t take our cars, our farm products, anything, so we won’t take their products either. We basically protect Canada. We are spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada. We lose in trade deficits,” Trump said.

During the same press conference, Trump also criticized Mexico, accusing the country of exploiting the US in trade and being overwhelmed by cartel violence. “We have a massive deficit with Mexico, and we help Mexico a lot. They’re essentially run by the cartels, and we can’t let that happen,” he stated. He also described Mexico as a “very dangerous place,” adding, “We do most of the work there, and it’s ours.”

Trump has promised to adopt a more aggressive approach towards Mexico and Canada in his second term, threatening to impose new tariffs unless they take stronger actions to curb the flow of migrants and illegal drugs into the United States.