Who needs a Secretary of State when genius statesman Trump can just make stuff up?
 |
| SOURCE: the US Trade Representative website. Note the US has a $24.6 BILLION SURPLUS with Canada |
After the Washington
Post obtained a recording in which President
Donald Trump bragged to donors about making up trade facts during a meeting
with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Americans expressed concerns about
Trump's demonstrated tendency to lie alongside
worries about how he will handle less friendly heads of state, such as North
Korean leader Kim Jong Un, who he is set to meet with sometime in May.
The Washington
Post reported Wednesday evening that the president insisted the United
States has a trade deficit with Canada, despite not knowing either way.
According to the newspaper, during a private fundraising speech, the president
said:
Trudeau came to see me. He's a good guy, Justin. He said, "No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please." ...Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in—"Donald, we have no trade deficit." He's very proud because everybody else, you know, we're getting killed. ...So, he's proud. I said, "Wrong, Justin, you do." I didn’t even know. ...I had no idea. I just said, "You're wrong." You know why? Because we're so stupid. ...And I thought they were smart. I said, "You're wrong, Justin." He said, "Nope, we have no trade deficit." I said, "Well, in that case, I feel differently," I said, "but I don't believe it." I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, "Check, because I can't believe it." ..."Well, sir, you're actually right. We have no deficit, but that doesn't include energy and timber. … And when you do, we lose $17 billion a year." It's incredible.
As the Post noted, the
Office of the United States Trade Representative says, according to the most recent data
available:
"U.S. goods and services trade with Canada totaled an estimated
$627.8 billion in 2016. Exports were $320.1 billion; imports were $307.6
billion. The U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $12.5
billion in 2016."
In a series of tweets, Toronto Star Washington
correspondent Daniel Dale broke down the president's "hugely ridiculous" tale—noting that "there is an entire
genre of invented Trump story that involves him being proven right about something
by an unnamed individual. In this case, it's the aide."
Trump took to Twitter
Thursday morning to stand by his initial claims.
Some users quickly
responded with screenshots of the U.S. Trade Representative's webpage for the nation's trade with
Canada. See above, left.