US President Donald Trump called Canada a "unviable country" with insufficient defense spending, the White House press service reported.
„They spend very little on defense. They are completely defenseless because they assume that we will protect them. But the fact is that we subsidize them with about 200 billion dollars a year. "If we stop doing that, if we stop them from making cars by putting tariffs on them, they will be a non-viable country," he told reporters on board his plane on February 10 as he flew to Louisiana.
“I love the people of Canada, we have a great relationship, and the greatest thing they could do is become the 51st state. Imagine how beautiful this country could be without the artificial border that someone drew so many years ago,“ the American leader added.
Trump's national security adviser Mike Walz said on February 9 that the American leader had no plans to invade Canada.
Trump has repeatedly expressed the opinion that many Canadians support their country becoming the 51st state of the United States. He believes that such an alliance would bring economic stability to Canada and protect it from external threats, which the US president says come mainly from Russia and China. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau responded by saying that Canada will never become the 51st state of the United States.