‘Shark Tank’ star Kevin O’Leary backs Trump’s idea to make Canada 51st US state: ‘The potential is huge’

President-elect Trump’s interest in making Canada the 51st US state is a “tremendous opportunity” to do “something great” on the world stage, according to “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary.

“I think it’s a great idea and I think the potential is huge and the opportunity is huge,” the Canadian investor said Friday during an appearance in America’s Newsroom. “I think at the end of the day, Canadians and Americans, their DNA is the same in terms of what they believe in … freedom.”

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In a Truth Social post on Wednesday, Trump mockingly referred to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as a “governor” and reiterated that Canada should be made an American state. The former president initially presented the proposal to Trudeau during a meeting in Mar-a-Lago after threatening to impose heavy tariffs on Canadian products, sources told Fox News.

“If Canada was to become our 51st statetheir taxes will be cut by more than 60%, their businesses will immediately double in size, and they will be militarily protected like no other country in the world,” Trump wrote.

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According to O’Leary, “more than half” of Canadians want to know more about the president-elect’s unique idea.

“There are 41 million of them who want to know more, they want to understand what the proposal actually is because the concept of economic union has been around for 40 years. And it makes sense because the resources Canada hasThe US needs. Especially electricity and water,” explained O’Leary.

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The chairman of O’Leary Ventures also believes China’s rise to dominance is a dilemma that could force neighboring nations to reach an agreement on the northern border.

“The Pentagon is worried, and has been for decades, about the northern border where China and the USSR are. And we had NORAD (North American Aerospace Defense) decades ago, but then China was a no-nonsense burger, and now they’re a big problem,” he said.

O’Leary concluded by detailing the “prize” that could be achieved through a US-Canada alliance.

“I think there’s an idea at the core of it, and yes, maybe it was a joke to begin with. There is something great to be done here, because if you figure out a way to unite these two countries, it will be the most powerful country on Earth, the most powerful army on Earth, the most powerful resources, and no adversary anywhere would interfere with that,” he said.

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Fox News’ Brian Depisch, Greg Wehner and Brett Baier contributed to this report.