Ottawa, Canada - There is not "a snowball's chance in hell" that Canada will become the 51st US state, outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau shot back at Donald Trump Tuesday.

Trump has publicly suggested the US should annex neighbor after he returns to the White House on January 20, and has taunted Trudeau as the "governor" of the "Great State of Canada."

"There isn't a snowball's chance in hell that Canada would become part of the United States," Trudeau, who announced his resignation on Monday amid party infighting and growing unpopularity, wrote on X on Tuesday. "Workers and communities in both our countries benefit from being each other's biggest trading and security partner."

Trump responded to the resignation by posting on his Truth Social site: "If Canada merged with the U.S., there would no Tariffs, taxes would go way down, and they would be TOTALLY SECURE from the threat of the Russian and Chinese Ships that are constantly surrounding them. Together, what a great Nation it would be!!!"

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Hours earlier, the president-elect said he could use "economic force" to make Canada a state.

He made the threat at a rambling Mar-a-Lago press conference in which he also declined to rule out using military force to gain control of the Panama Canal and Greenland.

"Canada and the United States, that would really be something," Trump mused.

"You get rid of the artificially drawn line and you take a look at what that looks like and it would also be much better for national security. Don't forget: we basically protect Canada."

After winning the election against Kamala Harris in November, Trump quickly picked a fight with Ottawa by saying that he would impose a 25% tariff on all products imported from Canada.