US President Donald Trump said that Canada should have become the 51st state of his country, which annually subsidizes its neighbor with $200 billion.
"Canada should have been the 51st state, we subsidize it with $200 billion a year. We don't need their cars or lumber. We have enough of our own resources," he said.
At the same time, he said that Canada is the worst country he has ever negotiated with. Trump recalled that although Ottawa makes the smallest contribution to NATO, it still needs to be defended.
Earlier, Trump expressed the opinion that many Canadians want their country to become the 51st state of the United States. Canada's new Prime Minister Mark Carney, like the previous head of government, Justin Trudeau, stated that the country will never become part of the United States in any form.
On March 11, Trump announced that the United States would increase tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada to 50%. He explained that this decision was made after the Canadian authorities introduced retaliatory tariffs on electricity supplied to the United States.