Justin Trudeau Photo: VCG

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has hit back at US president-elect Donald Trump's threat to use "economic force" to absorb Canada into the US, saying there isn't "a snowball's chance in hell" to join the two.

Trump has in recent weeks repeatedly needled Canada about it becoming the 51st US state.

Trump, speaking at a press conference at Mar-a-Lago on Tuesday, refused to rule out the use of military force to seize control of the Panama Canal and Greenland. He was also asked if he was considering using military force to acquire Canada, Canadian media CTV news reported. 

"No, economic force," he responded. "Because Canada and the United States, that would really be something."

"You get rid of that artificially drawn line, and you take a look at what that looks like, and it would also be much better for national security," Trump said.

The US president-elect has also shared a new map of the US on social media, which incorporated Canada as its territory. This comes hours after he threatened to use "economic force" to absorb Canada into the US.

Later on Tuesday, Trudeau hit back at Trump's threat, saying there is no possibility of merging countries. 

"There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States. Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner," Trudeau wrote on X (formally Twitter).

Global Times-Agencies