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Trump says he would use ‘economic force’ on Canada | CBC News

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Trump says he would use ‘economic force’ on Canada | CBC News

U.S. president-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday continued to threaten significant tariffs on other countries and said he would be willing to use “economic force” to join Canada and the United States together.

“Canada and the United States, that would really be something,” he said at a news conference in Palm Beach, Fla. 

“You get rid of the artificially drawn line and you take a look at what it looks like … and it would also be much better financial security.”

Trump made the remarks from Mar-a-Lago, the day after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced he will step down once the Liberal Party of Canada has chosen a successor.

Trump has threatened to impose a 25 per cent tariff on all imports from Canada and Mexico on his first day in office on Jan. 20, unless the two countries do more to address border security. On Tuesday, he again spoke favourably about Canada becoming “the 51st state” and criticized American spending on Canadian goods.

“We don’t need the cars, we don’t need the lumber … We don’t need anything they have,” Trump said. “We have a right not to help them with their financial difficulties.”

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump makes remarks at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. on Tuesday. (Carlos Barria/Reuters)

He said he would not consider military force on Canada, but remarkably, declined to rule out such action to have the U.S. take back control of the Panama Canal and acquire the Danish territory of Greenland.

“No, I can’t assure you on either of those two. But I can say this: we need them for economic security,” he said of the latter.

Also Tuesday, Trump said he would rename the Gulf of Mexico.

“‘The Gulf of America.’ What a beautiful name.”

More to come.

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