'How about if we buy Alaska?' Canadian premier claps back at Trump

A right-wing Canadian politician is having none of President-elect Donald Trump's repeated demands for Canada to join the U.S. as a state if they want to avoid tariffs.

According to The Daily Beast, he's responding in kind.

“I know under my watch, in Ontario, we would never be for that at all,” said Doug Ford to reporters on CTV News. “We have the greatest country in the world. We have the greatest province anywhere.” When asked to offer more thoughts, Ford said, “How about if we buy Alaska? And we’ll throw in Minnesota and Minneapolis at the same time.”

He clarified he was speaking facetiously by adding, “You know, it’s not realistic.”

Ford, whose late brother Rob was an infamously colorful figure as the mayor of Toronto, is a member of the right-leaning Progressive Conservative Party of Ontario.

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However, he has grown increasingly irked with Trump's behavior from across the border; in a previous speech, he called Trump's remarks about Canada "insulting" and “like a family member stabbing you right in the heart," and he may be in a position to squeeze energy supplies that flow from Canada into the U.S.

Trump's fixation on acquiring Canada has developed as a result of his repeated threats to levy draconian tariffs on the country, along with Mexico and China.

Economists have broadly warned these tariffs would cause a massive surge in prices for energy and retail goods if Trump were to go through with them as promised on the campaign trail.