WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump reiterated his desire to absorb Canada into the US as its 51st state while stating his determination to take back the Panama Canal.

"I think Canada, you know, they're gonna have to pay tariffs on automobiles, lumber and oil and gas, etcetera, and they get 95% of their product from the United States,” Trump said at the Republican Governors Association Meeting dinner in Washington, DC on Thursday.

"I think they have to become the 51st state," he added.

Turning to an international hockey game in Montreal, where Canadians booed the US national anthem ahead of the match, Trump said he thinks that "ultimately" they’ll be praising the national anthem.

"We’ll have to work out some deal…because I do like the ‘O Canada’ all right," he said, referring to the Canadian national anthem.

"It’s a beautiful thing. I think we’re going to have to keep it for the 51st state," he added.

Calling Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a “governor,” Trump said he is doing a "wonderful job."

"I think it's actually cost him his election, if you want to know that, but we're gonna see about that.

"We're looking at Greenland, and we have to take back the Panama Canal," he added.

Trump said that Panama is one of the great marvels of the world and added: “We built it and because China has essentially taken it over, we're not going to let that happen. China knows it and so does Panama.”


Trump also claimed that the BRICS countries "broke up,” just days after warning them with tariffs if they attempted to find a substitute for the US dollar.

"BRICS states were trying to destroy our dollar. They wanted to create a new currency. So, when I came in, the first thing I said was any BRICS state that even mentions the destruction of the dollar will be charged a 150% tariff, and we don't want your goods and the BRICS states just broke up," he said.