Trump Insists Canadians Would Have 'Much Better Health Coverage' in Latest Bid for Country's Statehood

President Trump reiterated his goal of making Canada the 51st state of the U.S., even saying that Canadians would have "much better health coverage" if the two nations were to unite.

On Friday, Trump traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, to tour the areas of the state that have been especially devastated by Hurricane Helene. At a briefing ahead of the tour, he reiterated his desire to see Canada become an American state.

"I would love to see Canada be the 51st state," he said. "The Canadian citizens, if that happened, would get a very big tax cut -- a tremendous tax cut -- because they are very highly taxed," said the 47th President.

"They'd have much better health coverage. I think the people of Canada would like it," he continued.

Canada's current healthcare system is universal and publicly funded. Referred to as Medicare, Canada's healthcare system provides citizens with "reasonable access to medically necessary hospital and physician services without paying out-of-pocket," according to the Canadian government's website.

The President further stated that he would "let business go to Canada routinely. And then, there would be no tariffs," if the nation were to become a U.S. state. Trump has previously stated his intention to impose sweeping 25% tariffs upon Canadian goods beginning on Feb 1.

"We made the same products on the other side of the border," Trump said, arguing that the U.S. does not need Canadian goods.

Roughly $3.6 billion worth of goods travel across the border between the U.S. and Canada daily, reported the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. The trade relationship between the two nations, which is considered the largest trade relationship in the world, is also directly related to the jobs of 3.7 million people.

"We are going to order 40 Coast Guard — big ice breakers, big ones, and all of a sudden Canada wants a piece of the deal. I said why are we doing that? I like doing that if they are a state, but I don't like doing that if they are a nation," said the President.

"And they're very nasty to us on trade. Historically, Canada has been very bad, very unfair to us on trade. We'll see how it all works out," he continued.