America’s top diplomat was questioned on Sunday about Donald Trump’s reasoning for repeatedly calling for Canada to join the United States as the 51st state.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday where moderator Kristen Welker asked him if the administration was actually taking any steps to make Trump’s vision a reality.

The president has made his opinion clear: he wants Canada to join the United States and suggested his administration would also acquire the Danish-held territory Greenland by any means.

The secretary of state gave his own translation of the president’s remarks on the matter:

“What the president has said, and he has said this repeatedly, is he was told by the previous prime minister that Canada could not survive without unfair trade with the United States, at which point he asked, ‘Well, if you can't survive as a nation without treating us unfairly in trade, then you should become a state.’ That's what he said.”