Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he believes U.S. President-elect Donald Trump is creating drama about Canadian statehood to detract from tariff negotiations.
“What I think is happening in this is that President Trump, who is a very skilled negotiator, is getting people a little distracted by that conversation,” Trudeau said in a CNN interview with Jake Tapper.
Trudeau said he believes Trump is doing this to divert attention from the reality that “25 percent tariffs on oil and gas, electricity, steel, aluminum, lumber, concrete and everything that “American consumers buying from Canada are suddenly going to get a cut.” “It’s a lot more expensive if you move forward with these tariffs.”
“And that’s something I think we need to focus on a little bit more,” Trudeau said in the interview, which aired as Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre spoke to reporters on this side of the border about the looming tariff threat.
Regarding Trump’s repeated suggestion on social media that Canada become the 51st state of the United States, Trudeau said “that’s not going to happen.”
More details to come…
