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President Donald Trump reportedly elicited gasps from the international crowd gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday when he suggested that Canada could become a US state in order to avoid the sweeping tariffs he wants to impose.
In his first major speech as the 47th president, Trump reiterated many of his economic priorities and claims that the US is treated “very unfairly” on trade by other nations. He spoke virtually from Washington, a live video feed splashed above the heads of panelists onstage in Switzerland.
Trump singled out Canada for a special warning: “As you probably know, I say, you can always become a state. And if you’re a state, we won’t have a deficit. We won’t have to tariff you.”
The BBC’s Faisal Islam said he heard “gasps in the Davos hall” at the casual remark.
“It’s not fair that we should have a $200 billion or $250 billion deficit,” Trump said, vastly overstating the actual trade deficit.
“We don’t need them to make our cars, and they make a lot of them,” Trump said, ignoring how vehicles’ lengthy assembly lines often span multiple countries from start to finish.
“We don’t need their lumber because we have our own forests, etcetera, etcetera. We don’t need their oil and gas. We have more than anybody,” Trump went on.
Trump has yet to act on his tariff threat. But he told reporters after his inauguration on Monday that they are still part of his plan, suggesting a 25% tariff on imports from Mexico and Canada could come down Feb. 1.
Economists agree that imposing tariffs on goods makes them more expensive for US consumers.
