Justin Trudeau says Canada is ready to respond with counter-tariffs against the US if President-elect Donald Trump follows through on his threat to begin a trade war in North America.

Canada's outgoing Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday suggested that President-elect Donald Trump's remarks about Canada becoming America's “51st state” has distracted attention from the harm that steep tariffs would inflict on U.

President-elect Donald Trump’s rhetoric around Canada becoming a 51st state is a distraction from the economic impact a trade war will have on American workers and businesses, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau charged Sunday.

Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau revealed on Sunday that he jokingly offered President-elect Donald Trump to trade Vermont or California in order for Canada to become the 51st state. Newsweek reached out to Trudeau's office and Trump's transition team for comment by email on Sunday afternoon.

President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to enact tariffs on Canadian goods, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says that’s more of a threat than any possible annexation of the United States’ northern neighbors.

It actually sort of came up at one point,” Trudeau told MSNBC’s Jen Psaki in an interview that aired on Sunday. “And then we started musing back and forth about this.” But it came to a quick halt after Trudeau jokingly made Trump an offer.