Trump Backs Down From ‘51st’ State Trolling In Meeting With New Canadian PM

But the president continued pushing his profound misunderstanding of how international trade works in his continued defense of high tariffs.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump backed away from his keyboard warrior trolling in his first meeting with Canada’s new prime minister, saying his monthslong threat of annexing the nation as the 51st state would only happen if Canadians wanted it, even as he continued pushing the outlandish premises undergirding his trade war with Canada and every other nation.

“You know, it takes two to tango, right?” Trump said before claiming that Canadians could get lower taxes, free military protection and — somehow — better health care if they joined the United States. “It would be a really wonderful marriage.”

Mark Carney, for his part, made clear more than once that that was never going to happen.

“There are some places that are never for sale,” he said. “Having met with the owners of Canada over the course of the campaign the last several months, it’s not for sale. It won’t be for sale ever.”

For much of the meeting, though, Carney — a former central banker with a doctorate in economics — seemed to have a difficult time getting a word in as Trump ― a reality TV game show host who bankrupted casinos ― laid out one false belief about international trade after another.