Donald Trump admits making up 'facts' in trade meeting with Justin Trudeau
Donald Trump
admits making up 'facts' in trade meeting with Justin Trudeau
US president told donors ‘I had no
idea’ when he complained to Canada’s prime minister over (non-existent) trade
deficit.
Donald Trump arrives in St
Louis ahead of the fundraising dinner for US Senate hopeful Josh Hawley.
Photograph: UPI / Barcroft Images
Donald Trump bragged that
he made up facts in a meeting with the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau,
according to an audio recording obtained by the Washington Post.
The US president –
notorious for making false claims on countless issues – admitted he told
Trudeau that America has a trade deficit with its neighbour when he “had no
idea” if that was true.
The office of the US
trade representative states that the American goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $12.5bn in
2016.
According to the
recording, Trump told guests at a fundraising dinner in Missouri: “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.”
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Trump went on: “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 $17bn a
year.’ It’s incredible.”
The Office of the United
States Trade Representative has said the US has a trade surplus with Canada,
the post reported.
Trump and Trudeau, 25 years
apart in age and polar opposites in temperament, have projected warm relations
so far. Last year, in honour of Canada Day, the president used twitter to
praise his “new found friend” north of the border.
Trump defied critics in
his own Republican party last week to announce stiff import taxes on steel and aluminium,
risking a trade war with China and the European Union. His top economic
adviser Gary Cohn quit over the tariffs, while
secretary of state Rex Tillerson, who also disagreed with them, was fired earlier this week.
On Wednesday, the Post
report says, the president again lambasted the EU, China, Japan and South
Korea, which he claimed were taking advantage of America. He also described the
North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) as a disaster and appeared to threaten
to pull US troops out of South Korea if the country does not come up with a
satisfactory trade deal.
“We have a very big trade
deficit with them, and we protect them,” Trump was quoted as telling donors.
“We lose money on trade, and we lose money on the military. We have right now
32,000 soldiers between North and South Korea. Let’s see what happens.”
He added: “Our allies
care about themselves. They don’t care about us.”
But as is his wont, the
president boasted about his 2016 presidential election victory, derided cable
news anchors and mocked his predecessors, George W Bush and Barack Obama, for
failing to achieve what he has done by setting up a meeting with North Korean
dictator Kim Jong-un. “It’s called appeasement: please don’t do anything,” he
reportedly said.
Trump made 2,140 false or
misleading claims in his first year as president, according to a Washington Post count.
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