Justin Trudeau Says On Hot Mic That Trump Is Serious About US ‘Absorbing’ Canada: ‘It Is A Real Thing’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on a hot mic Friday that President Donald Trump’s proposal for Canada to become the United States’ 51st state is very real.

Trudeau made his comments at a conference with business leaders to discuss Trump’s proposed 25 percent tariff on imported goods from Canada. Trump has said he wants a similar tariff on Mexico and a 10 percent tariff on China, citing illegal drugs and migrants flowing into the country.

CNN’s Paula Newton reported Saturday that Trudeau warned at the conference that Trump’s bluster about taking control of Canada is “very real” in comments Newton said were made after he thought “the media had left” the room.

“Mr. Trump has it in mind that the easiest way to do it is absorbing our country, and it is a real thing,” Trudeau said on an audio recording CNN aired.

Newton offered CNN’s viewers context as to what they heard:

Now, when he says it’s a real thing, he is saying, look, the president is clear that this is a threat, that you come to the table, you negotiate a new trade deal with us, along terms that we have asked for, or we will continue to push for this. And how does the Canadian government believe the American government will now push for this? By basically driving a very hard bargain economically, by punishing Canada economically so that the only option left for Canada is to join the United States as a 51st state. I was speaking to people who were in the room as Trudeau was making this kind of an announcement and really trying to find a way to make sure that there is resolve from business and labor leaders in the room. They described the meeting as collaborative, but also that many people are now focusing on this in Canada and understanding that it is a real worry.”

Trump has said multiple times he would like Canada to be part of the United States, arguing their taxes would be lowered if they agreed to such a deal.

“There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner,” Trudeau, who announced his coming resignation in January, previously wrote in response to Trump.

Watch above via CNN.