President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday said he would use economic, not military, force to acquire Canada.

“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,” Mr. Trump said during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.

He said America spends “hundreds of billions” of dollars a year to protect and take care of Canada.

“We don’t need their cars; you know they make 20% of our cars. We don’t need that; I’d rather make them in Detroit. We don’t need cars. We don’t need their lumber,” he said.

“We have to un-restrict them because stupid people put restrictions on — but I can do that with an executive order,” he said. “We don’t need anything they have.”

He added, “Why are we supporting a country [with] $200 billion-plus a year; our military is at their disposal, all of these other things. They should be a state,” he said. “That’s what I told [Canadian Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau when he came down.”

Mr. Trump has continuously mentioned making Canada the 51st state, even calling Mr. Trudeau “governor.”

Canadian officials have rejected the comments, saying their country will never be part of the U.S.

• Mallory Wilson can be reached at mwilson@washingtontimes.com.