President Donald Trump called the U.S.-Canada border an ‘artificial line’ while also declining to say whether Canada would lean right or left if it were to become a state.
Trump’s Friday comments were made during a press conference in the Oval Office amid controversy over the president speaking of Canada as the ’51st state.’
Fox News’ Peter Doocy asked the president whether he would be ‘concerned’ about whether Canada ‘would be a very, very blue state.’
‘It’s just an artificial line that was drawn in the sand or in the ice,’ Trump said. ‘You add that to this country – what a beautiful landmass. The most beautiful landmass anywhere in the world. And it was just cut off for whatever reason.’
‘It would be great,’ he continued.
Trump circumvented the question, saying, ‘I don’t care who winds up there.’
‘Frankly, [it] probably would do better with the liberal than the conservative, if you want to know the truth,’ he responded.
Trump referenced former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during the exchange, whom he has notably called ‘Governor Trudeau.’
Trudeau resigned as leader of the Liberal Party and the country’s prime minister in early January, following increased pressure and criticism from within his own party and threats levied by then-President-Elect Trump.
Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney won the Liberal leadership earlier this month, replacing Trudeau.
‘I think Canada is a place like a lot of other places – if you have a good candidate, the candidate’s going to win,’ Trump said.
Canadian MP Charlie Angus recently claimed the Trump administration had committed an ‘act of war’ over Trump repeatedly referring to Canada as the U.S.’ ’51st state’ and for leveling tariffs on the nation.
‘Well, I think Marco Rubio probably needs to be sent back to school, because when you say that someone doesn’t have a right to have a country, that’s an act of war. When you rip up, arbitrarily, trade agreements and threaten and say you’re going to break a country, that’s an act of war. And Canadians have responded in kind,’ Angus said during an interview earlier this week with the MeidasTouch Network.
Trump leveled a 25% tariff on all imports of steel and aluminum from other nations in early March, while Canada specifically is set to face a 25% tax on all imported goods beginning April 2. The tariffs have sparked boycotts of U.S. goods.
Fox News Digital’s Emma Colton contributed to this report.