TRUMP MADE UP FACTS
TRUMP ‘HAD NO IDEA’ ABOUT TRADE NUMBERS
President boasts he made up details in trade meeting with Trudeau
President Donald Trump boasted in a fundraising speech that he made up details about trade in a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, according to a recording of the comments.
The leaked recording provided fodder for the American political talk shows Thursday, animating discussions in the U.S. not only about the substance of the trading relationship but also the style of the president.
Trump was overheard telling donors at an event in Missouri the previous night that he insisted to Trudeau that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbour to the north — without any idea of whether this is the case.
“Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you. Donald, please.’ Nice guy, good-looking (guy), comes in and says, ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit,’” Trump said.
“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 (in negotiating past trade deals). And I thought (the Canadians) were smart ... By the way, Canada, they negotiate tougher than Mexico.’’
In the recording, first reported by The Washington Post, the president said staffers from each country were sent out to check the prime minister’s claim. He said the staffers concluded Trump was correct.
Trump said the staffers came back and said: “Well, sir, you’re actually right.” He said the U.S. has a deficit once you include energy and lumber trade, “and when you do, we lose $17 billion a year. It’s incredible.” There are a few issues with this story. For starters, the Canadian government is unsure what meeting he’s referring to. A Canadian official said the conversation may have happened by phone. The official said the topic has come up several times in chats between Trudeau and Trump.
Then there’s issue involving details on trade.
On the export-import balance, Trump’s own government’s statistics tell a different story. The 2018 White House Economic Report of the President says the U.S. ran a trade surplus of $2.6 billion with Canada on a balance-of-payments basis. In addition, the U.S. Trade Representative’s office says the goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $12.5 billion in 2016.
But there are different ways to calculate the final number.
In fact, Canada’s own formula sides with Trump, as it excludes the country of origin in a three-party transaction: a Chinese laptop shipped through Canada into the U.S. would count in the Canadian formula as a Canadian export.
Bruce Heyman, the last U.S. ambassador to Canada under Barack Obama calls this whole debate foolish.
In dispute is an alleged deficit that amounts to a grand total of less than two per cent of US$630 billion in annual Canada-U.S. trade, which can be completely made or broken
by small shifts in the price of oil or the Canadian dollar.
What bothers Heyman most is that the president of his country keeps threatening to stifle trade with Canada and then shows up at meetings without having a grasp of the most basic details.
“What has incensed me is that the president is picking a fight with Canada,” Heyman said in an interview. “Reckless. It’s infuriating to me.”
He contrasted this approach with the president he served: “(Obama) was highly briefed before entering a meeting with the prime minister . ... President Obama was a voracious consumer of information before making a decision. It’s almost the exact opposite of what I’m seeing now.”