“Look, we’ve been ripped off for years, and we’re not going to be ripped off anymore. No, I’m not going to bend at all. Or aluminum or steel or cars. We’re not going to bend. We’ve been ripped off as a country for many, many years.
“We’ve been subjected to costs that we shouldn’t be subjected to. In the case of Canada, we’re spending $200 billion a year to subsidize Canada. I love Canada, I love the people of Canada. I love I have many friends in Canada. The great one, Wayne Gretzky, the great. Hey, how good is Wayne Gretzky? He’s a great one.
“I know many people from Canada that are good friends of mine. But, you know, the United States can’t subsidize a country for $200 billion a year. We don’t need their cars. We don’t need their energy. We don’t need their lumber. We don’t need anything that they that they give. We do it because we want to be helpful.
“But it comes a point when you just can’t do that. You have to run your own country. And to be honest with you, Canada only works as a state. It would be one of the great states anywhere. This would be the most incredible country visually.
“If you look at a map, they drew an artificial line right through it between Canada and the U.S. just a straight artificial line. Somebody did it a long time ago, many, many decades ago. And it makes no sense.
“It’s so perfect as a great and cherished state. Keeping, ‘Oh, Canada,’ the national anthem, I love it. I think it’s great. Keep it. But it’ll be for the state. One of our greatest states, maybe our greatest state.” – Trump, this afternoon in the Oval Office.
POTUS on tariffs: “We’ve been ripped off for years and we’re not going to be ripped off anymore. I’m not going to bend at all — aluminum or steel or cars — we’re not going to bend… We’ve been subjected to costs we shouldn’t be subjected to.” pic.twitter.com/ycZcizxO3A
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 13, 2025