Trudeau To Trump On Annexation Plans: ‘not A Snowball’s Chance In Hell’

OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau struck back Tuesday at more than a month of social media taunting from President-elect Donald Trump, saying there wasn’t “a snowball’s chance in hell” of Canada becoming America’s 51st state.

Trump has used the “51st State” jab repeatedly since Trudeau and Finance Minister Dominic LeBlanc dined with his team at his Florida compound in late November during the U.S. Thanksgiving weekend.

Trudeau accepted an invitation from Trump after the president-elect threatened to impose 25 percent tariffs on all Canadian imports from the U.S. unless it did more to stop the flow of illegal drugs and migrants across their shared border.

Trudeau’s team has regularly dismissed Trump’s comments — which regularly include referring to the prime minister as “Governor Trudeau” — as good-natured joking.

The joke apparently wore off on Trudeau after Trump expanded on why Canada ought to become a state during his Mar-a-Lago press conference, a typically free-flowing event in which Trump said he would use “economic force” on Canada.

In an afternoon post on X, Trudeau wrote: “There isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers in communities in both our countries benefit from being each other’s biggest trading and security partner.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly also weighed Tuesday with her own X posting: “President-elect Trump’s comments show a complete lack of understanding of what makes Canada a strong country. Our economy is strong. Our people are strong. We will never back down in the face of threats.”

During his press conference, Trump forcefully reiterated his opinion that the U.S. needed to acquire or otherwise annex Greenland from Denmark and take control of the Panama Canal to protect U.S. security interests.

Asked whether he was considering military force to annex and acquire Canada: “No. Economic force because Canada and the United States, that would really be something.”

He also recalled his recent conversation with Canadian hockey legend Wayne Gretzky in which he urged him to run for prime minister because he would be a shoo-in. Trump recalled Gretzky asking him whether he should be running for prime minister or governor, to which Trump said he replied: “Let’s make it governor. I like it better.”

Trudeau announced his intention to resign on Monday but will stay on until his Liberal Party selects a new leader. He also shut down Parliament until March 24 to spare his minority government a confidence vote that would force an election.

The Conservative opposition accused Trudeau of putting his own party’s interest ahead of the nation’s at a time when Canada was facing an economic threat from the U.S.

“We’ve got Cabinet ministers who are supposed to be preparing for the incoming U.S. administration, supposed to be dealing with the economic challenges that they themselves have caused,” said Conservative House Leader Andrew Scheer.

“Rather than doing that, they’re going to be calling backroom insiders, and well-connected senior Liberals to raise money and build power coalitions within a political party.”