Trump Catches Canadian PM Off Guard by Comically Announcing the ‘Merger’ of His Country With the U.S.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday and was briefly caught off guard by Trump jokingly announcing the merger of Canada and the U.S..

Trump began the meeting with an introduction and some brief remarks before turning it over to Carney.

“But in the meantime, we’ll spend some time and we’ll make some deals and we will do some things that are good for both of our countries. And Mark, it’s an honor to have you. Thank you very much,” said Trump.

“Thank you very much, Mr. President. If I may, you kindly hosted me and some of my colleagues a few months ago, and I said at the time, you are a transformative president. And since then, the transformation in the economy, unprecedented commitments of NATO partners to defense spending, peace from India, Pakistan, through to Azerbaijan, Armenia, disabling Iran as a force of terror. And now—and I’m running out of time, but this is, in many respects, the most important—” Carney began, offering Trump the praise he regularly receives from his guests who want to be in his good graces.

Trump then jokingly interjected, “The merger of Canada and the United States.”

“That wasn’t where I was going,” Carney said as they both laughed in a friendly exchange.

Carney added, “But on this solemn day of commemoration of the horrific attacks of October 7th, for the first time in decades, hundreds of years, thousands of years, this prospect of peace that you’ve made possible. Canada stands foursquare behind those efforts and we’ll do whatever we can to support that.”

Trump has long discussed making Canada the 51st state — and thereby, the U.S. the largest country in the world — with observers and pundits suggesting the president mentions it with varying degrees of seriousness.

Watch the clip above via CNN.