‘I had no idea’: Trump boasts he made up trade statistics in negotiations with Canada’s Trudeau

US President Donald Trump boasted in a fundraising speech on Wednesday that he made up facts in a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, saying he insisted that the United States runs a trade deficit with its neighbour to the north without knowing whether that was the case, which it is not.

“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,’ ” Trump said, mimicking Trudeau, according to audio obtained by The Washington Post. “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 US$17 billion a year.’ It’s incredible.”

In fact, the United States trade representative office agrees with Trudeau that the United States has a trade surplus with Canada.