Justin Trudeau (L); Donald Trump.
Credit: Reuters Photos
US President-elect Donald Trump has mocked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as the 'Governor' of the 'great state of Canada' after the duo had dinner on Friday (US time).
In a post on Trump's own social media website Truth Social, the 78-year-old said, "It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada. I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon so that we may continue our in depth talks on Tariffs and Trade, the results of which will be truly spectacular for all!"
This post by Trump comes in the wake of him saying that if Mexico and Canada expect subsidies from the United States, they might as well become US states instead of remaining sovereign countries.
Trump had claimed that the US is subsidising Canada and Mexico to the tune of $100 billion and $300 billion, respectively.
Trump has threatened to impose hefty tariffs on both Canada and Mexico if they don’t stop the flow of illegal immigrants into the US through their territories.
“We're subsidising Canada to the tune of over $100 billion a year. We're subsidising Mexico for almost $300 billion. We shouldn't be subsidising. Why are we subsidising these countries? If we're going to subsidise them, let them become a state (of the US),” Trump told NBC News in an interview, his first on a Sunday talk show after winning the November 5 presidential elections.
In the meeting between Trump and Trudeau, the latter had told the US President-elect and his key Cabinet nominees that clubbing Canada and Mexico in the same bracket might not be the right thing to do, as per Associated Press.
“The message that our border is so vastly different than the Mexican border was really understood,” Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador in Washington, told the news agency.
With Reuters inputs