Trump Repeats False Claim About Canada After Admitting Uncertainty Over Figure

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump repeated his false assertion Thursday that the United States runs a trade deficit with Canada, the morning after telling Republican donors at a private dinner that he had knowingly insisted on that claim in a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada without knowing if it was true.

“We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive),” Trump wrote on Twitter. The tweet came the morning after audio surfaced of him boasting that he pressed that point in a meeting with Trudeau even though he had “no idea” whether it was true.

“P.M. Justin Trudeau of Canada, a very good guy, doesn’t like saying that Canada has a Surplus vs. the U.S.(negotiating), but they do,” Trump added.

The United States ran a trade surplus of $600 million in goods and services with Canada in January, according to the Commerce Department, a metric that reflects the difference between what the United States exports to Canada and what it imports from that country. In 2016, the United States had a trade surplus with Canada of $12.5 billion, according to a fact sheet posted on the website of the U.S. Trade Representative.

But during a fundraiser for a Senate candidate in Missouri on Wednesday evening, Trump recounted ignoring that reality in a meeting with Trudeau, as the prime minister repeatedly pushed back. The Washington Post obtained the audio and posted a transcript on its website.

“He said, ‘No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none; Donald, please,'” Trump told the donors according to the transcript, referring to Trudeau, calling him a “nice guy, good looking.”

“I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know,” Trump said. “I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid.” The episode was a vivid example of Trump’s strained relationship with the facts, and a rare glimpse of the president acknowledging that he has a cavalier attitude about the truth, sometimes obfuscating or misrepresenting in order to gain the upper hand in an argument.

It was particularly extraordinary given that it reflected Trump’s willingness to dissemble even with a close ally of the United States, albeit one that he has taken on aggressively in recent months as he presses to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and secure terms that are more advantageous to the United States.

During the conversation, the president said he and Trudeau had argued repeatedly about the trade balance, with the prime minister saying, “Nope, we have no trade deficit,” and Trump ultimately sending an aide to, “Check, because I can’t believe it.”

He then claimed that his contention had been validated, appearing to quote an aide he said had told him, “'Well sir you’re actually right. We have no deficit, but that doesn’t include energy and timber. But when you do, we lose $17 billion a year.’ It’s incredible.”

It was not clear what Trump was referring to. The United States did have a goods trade deficit of $12.1 billion with Canada in 2016 — meaning that it imported more Canadian goods than it exported to the nation — but the surplus in services exchanged was $24.6 billion, more than double, more than making up the difference and resulting in an overall surplus.

Trade with the United States is a critical part of Canada’s export-dependent economy. But the actions and statements from the Trump administration concerning the two countries’ economic relationship have provoked equal parts anxiety, puzzlement and anger within Canada.

The account of the president’s slapdash approach to statistics comes after a dispute between Canada and the United States over potentially crippling duties on steel and aluminum that the president introduced last week.

The sanctions were temporarily suspended in Canada’s case, pending renegotiation of NAFTA. Officials in Trump’s administration insisted that the United States runs a steel trade deficit with Canada even though statistics from both governments show that trade is balanced.

Trump’s administration has imposed tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber, and more recently Canadian paper used mainly as newsprint. And a trade action over a new Canadian jetliner that was ultimately dropped threatened the future of Bombardier, one of Canada’s largest industrial companies.

Trump’s top trade negotiators have presented a list of demands for revising NAFTA that Canada has declared unacceptable. Trudeau has said that Canada is prepared to abandon NAFTA rather than accept a “bad deal” and Trump has similarly threatened to withdraw from the pact.

In a statement, the Canadian government noted that the U.S. Trade Representative has said there was a surplus in goods and services trade in 2016. Trudeau and his Cabinet have generally avoided directly criticizing Trump, but the president’s remarks were greeted with bafflement by some Canadians.

“I thought it was a dumb comment but I wasn’t surprised,” said Mark Warner, an international trade lawyer in Toronto. “If it came from any other world leader, it would be troubling. But pretty obviously he’s not a details guy and he’s kind of got a negotiating strategy of being in the moment.”

Some Americans denounced the president’s admission. That included a series of posts on Twitter by Bruce A. Heyman, the U.S. ambassador to Canada under President Barack Obama.

“Creating a crisis where none existed before is no way to run our country,” Heyman posted. “Canada is our best friend and don’t ever forget it! We should never put the relationship at risk.”

He added: “When I left it was the best relationship the U.S.A. had in the world. The President is casually throwing Canada under the bus and this is just wrong.”