'I Am Not Trolling': Trump Serious On Making Canada 51st US State, Raises Issue With Mark Carney

US President Donald Trump on Friday asserted that he was "not trolling" about his bold proposition to make Canada the 51st state of the United States.

In an interview with Time magazine, when a journalist asked, "You've talked about acquiring Greenland, taking control of the Panama Canal, making Canada the 51st state. Maybe you're trolling a little bit on that (last) one."

"Actually, no, I'm not," the president said. Expressing his intention to "grow" the American empire, Trump remarked, "Well, it depends. As an empire, it wasn't — these are not things that we had before, so I'd view it a little bit differently if we had the right opportunity."

The POTUS continued, "Yeah, I think Greenland would be very well off if they, I think it's important for us for national security and even international security. I think Canada, what you said that, 'Well, that one, I might be trolling.' But I’m really not trolling."

Donald Trump also allegedly broached the topic of Canada becoming the 51st state of the United States with Liberal Leader Mark Carney, per a report by CBC News. Carney said that while Trump did bring up the 51st state, he chose, at the time, to describe where the two leaders ended their conversation, rather than giving a detailed blow-by-blow of the call.

"The president says lots of things, but the essence of the discussion and where we moved the conversation to, was exactly what I said," Carney said during a campaign stop in Port Moody, B.C., Thursday.

Meanwhile, Radio-Canada's sources said Trump used the call to explain the advantages of Canada joining the US in a March 28 conversation. The sources said Carney let Trump speak before expressing his disagreement, CBC reported.

Earlier, the US President had poked fun at former Canadian PM Justin Trudeau, calling him a "governor".

Get Latest News Live on Times Now along with Breaking News and Top Headlines from US News, World and around the world.