‘Ripped’ from the headlines

Trump cites Post column to blast Canada

President Trump on Tuesday accused Canada of unfair trading practices — and appeared to cite a column in The Post that said Canadians come to the US to buy shoes and avoid stiff tariffs.

“There was a story two days ago in a major newspaper talking about people living in Canada coming into the United States and smuggling things back into Canada because the tariffs are so massive,” he said during a speech at the National Federation of Independent Business’ 75th anniversary celebration in DC.

“The tariffs to get common items back into Canada are so high that they have to smuggle them in. They buy shoes, then they wear them. They scuff them up. They make them sound old or look old” so they can get them past border guards, he said.

Post reporter Isabel Vincent, a native of Canada, wrote a column for Sunday’s paper saying she doubted Canadians would boycott American goods — and cited her experience buying shoes, clothing and other items and sneaking them back across the border to avoid tariffs.

“When I moved to New York a decade ago, my family and friends in Canada turned me into their cross-border mule. It was never drugs, alcohol or cigarettes that I was asked to smuggle across the border to avoid paying a hefty tariff or Canada customs duty,” she wrote. “It was refrigerator screws, a barbecue cover and camera and bicycle parts — items that Amazon and other online retailers in the US just don’t bother shipping north of the border because of the myriad and dizzying array of tariffs and taxes that Canada charges its citizens on goods they buy in the US.”

She then related the anecdote about the shoes that caught the president’s eye, though there was no mention of scuffing the pricey kicks up.

“A Toronto-based designer I know purchased two pairs of shoes (retail $800 each) online from a Midtown department store and shipped them to my office,” she wrote.

“The Italian contraband sat under my desk for weeks until I could entrust them to a carrier who would be crossing the border. My friend saved $159.59 in combined federal and provincial taxes and $187.26 in esti- mated customs charges.”

Trump also had some praise for our northern neighbor, a longtime US ally.

“They fought World War II with us. We appreciate it. They fought World War I with us, and we appreciate it, but we’re protecting each other,” he said before lashing out at NAFTA and Canadian tariffs on US dairy products.

“We’re treated horribly. Dairy, dairy, 275 percent tariff. So basically that’s a barrier without saying it’s a barrier. We have to change our ways. We can no longer be the stupid country. We want to be the smart country,” he said to cheers and applause.

“So hopefully we’ll be able to work it out with Canada.”

There was a story two days ago in a major newspaper talking about people living in Canada coming into the United States and smuggling things back into Canada because the tariffs are so massive. — President Trump