Half of Canadians interested in Trump's offer to merge US, Canada, says Shark Tank's Kevin O’Leary

Canadian businessman and investor Kevin O’Leary expressed interest in breaking a deal with US President-elect Donald Trump to create some sort of "economic reunion" between the US and Canada, stressing that at least half of Canada's population would support such deal.

O’Leary, who is also a "Shark Tank" star, said that over the last two days, Canadians have been talking about this.

“Canadians over the holidays, the last two days, have been talking about this,” O’Leary said of Trump’s proposal during an interview with Fox Business.

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“They want to hear more," he added.

This comes after Trump has repeatedly suggested that Canada should become "our 51st State".

O’Leary further highlighted that he will visit Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate to discuss his proposal to merge Canada with the US.

However, he also noted that "there’s obviously a lot of issues” that would arise if Canada attempted to join the US, adding that Trump's interest in the matter "could be the beginning of an economic reunion".

"Think about the power of combining the two economies, erasing the border between Canada and the United States and putting all that resource up to the northern borders where China and Russia are knocking on the door,” he stressed.

He added that the northern territories would be secured, adding that it would give a common currency, figure out taxes across the board, and create a new, almost EU-like passport. "I like this idea and at least half of Canadians are interested," sa

He further acknowledged that currently, a major obstacle is the "collapsing" Canadian government under Liberal Party Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who is very likely to resign or be voted out of office by October 2025.

Trump calls Canada a 'US state'

For weeks now, the US president-elect has been taunting Trudeau by referring to Canada as a prospective US "state" and the prime minister as its "governor".

“Nobody wants Trudeau to negotiate this deal,” O’Leary argued. “I don’t want him doing it for me. So I’m going to go to Mar-A-Lago. I’ll start the narrative.”

“The 41 million Canadians, I think most of them would trust me on this deal," he said.

'Tariff row'

Trump has also threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada once he takes office in January 2025.

Trump, in a Christmas Day Truth Social Post, argued that Canada should become a US state because the taxes of its citizens "are far too high".

He further declared that "if Canada was to become our 51st State, their Taxes would be cut by more than 60 per cent.”

Trump stressed that Canadian businesses also “would immediately double in size, and they would be militarily protected like no other Country anywhere in the World."

(With inputs from agencies)