President-elect Donald Trump’s interest in making Canada the 51st U.S. state is a “huge opportunity” to do “something great” on the world stage, according to “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary.
“I think this is a great idea, and I think the potential is massive, and the opportunity is huge,” the Canadian investor said during an appearance on “America’s Newsroom” on Friday. “I think at the end of the day, Canadians and Americans, their DNA is the same in terms of what they believe in… freedom.”
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In a Truth Social post Wednesday, Trump mockingly referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “governor” and reiterated that Canada should be turned into a U.S. state. The former president originally floated the suggestion to Trudeau during a meeting at Mar-a-Lago after threatening to impose sweeping tariffs on Canadian products, sources told Fox News.
“If Canada was to become our 51st state, their taxes would be cut by more than 60%, their businesses would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other country anywhere in the world,” Trump wrote.
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According to O’Leary, “more than half” of Canadians want to know more about the president-elect’s unique idea.
“There are 41 million of them who want to know more, want to understand what the proposal really is, because the concept of an economic union has been bandied around for 40 years. And it makes sense because the resources Canada has, the U.S. needs. Particularly power and water,” O’Leary explained.
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The O’Leary Ventures chairman also believes that China’s rise to dominance is a dilemma that could prompt the neighboring nations to reach an agreement regarding the northern border.
“The Pentagon is worried and has been for decades about the northern border where China and the USSR are. And we had NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) decades ago, but China was a nothing burger back then, and now they’re a serious problem.”
O’Leary concluded, detailing the “prize” that could be achieved through the U.S. and Canada’s union.
“I think in this kernel of an idea and yes, maybe it was a joke to start. There is something great here to be done because if you figured out a way to put these two countries together, it would be the most powerful country on Earth, the most powerful military on Earth, the most powerful resources, and no adversary anywhere would mess with it. That’s the prize.”
Fox News’ Breanne Deppisch, Greg Wehner and Bret Baier contributed to this report.
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