Vice President J.D. Vance accidentally called Canada a state Monday as he answered a question about the country’s trade dispute with the U.S.
The admitted Freudian slip came just hours after President Trump declared in a social media post that “Canada will be treated like a state no longer” because it is not doing enough business with the U.S. He announced that effective Jan. 1, tariffs on Canadian cars, trucks, auto parts and steel will increase to 50%.
Mr. Vance addressed the trade dispute on Monday as he campaigned in Maine for GOP House candidate Paul LePage. He said Canada and China have been two of the worst U.S. trading partners because of the tariffs they impose.
“I would expect that from China. I would not expect that from Canada. We have to remember Canada is a state,” Mr. Vance said before abruptly pausing to correct his mistake.
“Sorry, Freudian slip. That was actually an accident,” he said. “Canada is a country that has underinvested in its military, that quite literally would get invaded by a foreign country were it not for the umbrella of protection provided by the United States of America.”
Until recently, Mr. Trump has often referred to Canada derisively as the “51st state.”
Mr. Vance said the Trump administration is “sick of” Canada applying “ridiculous tariffs and other non-tariff duties” on American products and is prepared to fight back.
For example, he said the U.S. does not charge tariffs on Canadian dairy products, but Canada imposes tariffs on U.S. dairy products that are as high as 250%.
“That unfairness is something that we just have to fix,” Mr. Vance said.
Speaking to the trade negotiations that fell apart over the weekend, the vice president said he thought the two North American countries had reached a deal, but then Canada “came in with a bunch of unreasonable last-minute demands.”
He did not specify what those demands were but said negotiations are “still ongoing.”
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