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 As Trump's popularity builds in the race for the Republican
presidential nomination, Internet search providers have noted a
spike in queries from Americans about moving to Canada.
Trudeau told students on the third day of an official visit to the
United States, however, that the idea of emigration by voters who
feared ending up on the losing side was common during U.S. election
campaigns.
"If over the past decades that had been the case, we'd have more
people in Canada than in the United States ... It becomes an easy
thing to cry out," he said during a discussion at Washington's
American University. Canada's population is just over a tenth the
size of that of the United States.
Trudeau said Canadians and Americans continually crossed the border
to live in the other country.
 "That's just the nature of our friendship and relationship and to
link it too much to politics is humorous ... There will always be
flows back and forth and one must never fret or be disappointed with
that," he said.
Migration data from after Republican George W. Bush's 2000 election
and 2004 re-election - other times when some liberal Americans
pledged to move to Canada in protest – suggests few followed up on
their promise.
Trudeau, whose Liberals took power in Canada last November, had
previously largely avoided questions about the consequences of a
Trump victory, saying he will work with whomever wins.
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Earlier this week he said he would neither fight Trump nor support
him but understood his appeal for people fed up with politics.
Trudeau made his comments a day after talks at the White House that
set the seal on better ties with the United States. Trudeau and
President Barack Obama agreed joint steps to combat climate change
and make it easier for people and goods to flow back and forth
across their countries' long border.
Trump has in the past mused about tearing up the North American Free
Trade Agreement, which could cripple the Canadian economy.
Keeping good relations with the United States is critical for
Canada, which sends 75 percent of its exports to its southern
neighbor.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren; Editing by James Dalgleish)
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