Justin Trudeau warns Trump’s statehood talk could distract Canada from tariff threat

He seems tariff-ied.

Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau cautioned that President-elect Donald Trump is “a very skillful negotiator” and fretted that the billionaire real estate mogul’s statehood push could be masking a more menacing tariff threat.

“That’s not going to happen. Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, ‘Well, we’re not American,’” Trudeau told CNN’s “The Lead with Jake Tapper” about the possibility of Canada becoming a US state.

“What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who’s a very skillful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that conversation, away from the conversation around 25% tariffs.”

Trudeau — who caved to internal pressure and announced plans Monday to step down as prime minister once his Liberal Party coalesces around a successor — was in Washington, DC for late President Jimmy Carter’s funeral. Carter had been friendly with Trudeau’s father.

Shortly after his election victory, Trump threatened a 25% blanket tax on all goods coming in from Canada unless it took steps to curtail the border and fentanyl crisis. He promised an identical ultimatum to Mexico and also threatened a steep tariff on Chinese goods.

Right after Trump issued the threat, Trudeau jetted down to Mar-a-Lago where he rubbed elbows with a grinning Trump, who has since taunted him repeatedly about becoming the 51st governor.

“Everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive,” Trudeau warned if the tariffs go into effect, adding that there would be retaliation from Ottawa.

Trump has long fawned over tariffs, calling it the “most beautiful word in the dictionary” and eyeing the trade taxation as both a negotiating tool as well as a mechanism to pay for the expanded tax cuts he is seeking.

Over recent weeks, Trump has stepped up his banter about making Canada the 51st state, acquiring Greenland and retaking the Panama Canal. For the latter two, Trump has not ruled out military force.

A source close to Trump previously told The Post that he is “not kidding” about Greenland, but the Canada talk was merely a taunt.

Trudeau, who’s led Canada for the past decade, had long been circling the drain in Canada amid discontent with his leadership and a threat from Conservative Party leader Pierre Poilievre ahead of the Oct. 20 elections.

Backlash quickly mounted internally after Trudeau’s trip to Mar-a-Lago, as critics felt he was kowtowing toward his American counterpart.

Polls also indicated Canadians were dissatisfied with his handling of inflation, mirroring blowback globally to many incumbent national leaders. Trudeau insisted that inflation wasn’t that bad.

“If you look at the actual numbers, inflation in Canada was lower, came down quicker, our economy bounced back faster after the pandemic than anyone else’s, including the United States,” Trudeau said.

“But when someone’s paying $8 for a head of lettuce, it doesn’t matter that you’re doing better than they are in Spain or somewhere else,” he added. “And that’s where incumbents are in trouble, everywhere across around the world.”

Inflation had reached a higher peak in the US at 9.1% in June 2022 than in Canada, when it soared to 8.1%. Notably, housing prices are much higher on average in Canada than in the US and Trudeau has faced backlash over his lax immigration policies, which he shifted late last year.

Trudeau further blamed “right-wing attacks and social media” for spewing “misinformation” that whipped up public opposition to him.

Despite his resignation coming mere months after Trump’s victory, Trudeau insisted that the president-elect’s win did not prompt him to resign.

“No, on the contrary, what we were able to do during the first presidency of Mr. Trump was work together in a very challenging situation to come out with a very strong win, win in Canada-US relations,” Trudeau said, referring to the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“I’m looking forward to continuing to work with him for the next two months.”

Canada’s Parliament is slated to be suspended until March 24 as the Liberal Party figures out who will succeed Trudeau.