Justin Trudeau: ‘Incredibly Proud’ Canadians Define Ourselves As ‘Not American’

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said during an interview this week that “proud Canadians” specifically find their identities in “not” being an American.

Trudeau — who announced he was resigning as the leader of the Liberal Party, thus bringing his tenure as prime minister to a close in the coming months — made the remarks during a CNN interview on Tuesday afternoon.

CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Trudeau about President-elect Donald Trump mocking him as the “governor” of Canada and saying that Canada should become America’s 51st state.

“Did you have any interaction with him today?” Tapper asked.

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“No, not today, but that’s not going to happen,” Trudeau said. “Canadians are incredibly proud of being Canadian. One of the ways we define ourselves most easily is, well, we’re not American.”

“There is such a depth of pride that that’s not actually an issue,” he said. “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, to take away from the conversation around 25% tariffs on oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminum and lumber and concrete, and everything the American consumers buy from Canada is suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs.”

How does Justin Trudeau define our deep cultural and national identity?

“Not American”

He needs to step down as PM before he embarrasses us further. pic.twitter.com/I15gRlCoOz

— Stephen Taylor (@stephen_taylor) January 9, 2025