The Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, has described Donald Trump’s talk of possibly annexing Canada as a tactic designed to distract people from the impact of his proposed tariffs.

Trump, who says he will impose 25% tariffs on all Canadian imports unless Ottawa boosts border security, said on Tuesday that he was considering using “economic force” to acquire Canada.

“What I think is happening in this is President Trump, who is a very skilful negotiator, is getting people to be somewhat distracted by that conversation,” Trudeau told CNN when asked about Trump’s remarks.

“Oil and gas and electricity and steel and aluminium and lumber and concrete and everything the American consumers buy from Canada [are] suddenly going to get a lot more expensive if he moves forward on these tariffs,” he said.

Trudeau, who this week said there was not “a snowball’s chance in hell” that Canada would become part of the US, reiterated to CNN that Ottawa would impose countermeasures if Trump made good on this threat.

Trudeau recalled that during a bilateral trade dispute in 2018, Canada put tariffs on Heinz ketchup, playing cards, bourbon and Harley-Davidson motorcycles, “things that would hurt American workers”.

He added: “But we don’t want to do that because it drives up prices for Canadians and it harms our closest trading partner.”