‘Really not trolling’: Trump denies joking about making Canada the 51st state

US President Donald Trump on Friday reiterated that he was “not trolling” about his proposal to make Canada the 51st state of the United States. In an interview with Time magazine, Trump also defended his stance on Greenland, dismissing claims that his remarks were merely provocative.

In an interview with Time Magazine, a reporter asked Trump, “You’ve talked about acquiring Greenland, taking control of the Panama Canal, making Canada the 51st state. Maybe you’re trolling a little bit on that (last) one.”

Trump replied, “Actually, no, I’m not.”

The Time journalist followed up: “Well, do you want to grow the American empire?”

The President replied, “Well, it depends as an empire, it wasn’t, these are not things that we had before, so I’d view it a little bit differently if we had the right opportunity. Yeah, I think Greenland would be very well off if they I think it’s important for us for national security and even international security.”

The POTUS further added, “Canada is an interesting case. We lose $200 to $250 billion a year supporting Canada. And I asked a man who I called Governor Trudeau. I said, ‘Why? Why do you think we’re losing so much money supporting you? Do you think that’s right? Do you think that’s appropriate for another country to make it possible, for a country to sustain and he was unable to give me an answer, but it costs us over $200 billion a year to take care of Canada?'”

“We’re taking care of their military. We’re taking care of every aspect of their lives, and we don’t need them to make cars for us. In fact, we don’t want them to make cars for us. We want to make our own cars. We don’t need their lumber. We don’t need their energy. We don’t need anything from Canada. And I say the only way this thing really works is for Canada to become a state,” Trump concluded.

CARNEY SAYS HE’S BEST PERSON TO STAND UP TO TRUMP

Liberal Leader Mark Carney revealed on Thursday that during a March 28 conversation, Trump had brought up the idea of Canada becoming the 51st state, according to CTV News.

While Carney had earlier said that Trump respected Canada’s sovereignty during the call, recent revelations about the omission have sparked scrutiny over the true nature of their discussion — particularly as Carney has positioned himself as the candidate best equipped to handle Trump.

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