2018-03-15politico.com

President Donald Trump repeated Thursday his claim that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada to swipe at Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a day after boasting about misleading the Canadian leader about his knowledge of the subject.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative says the U.S. in 2016 had a goods and services trade surplus with Canada of $12.5 billion.

"We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive). 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...they almost all do...and that's how I know!" the president tweeted.

The president on Wednesday bragged to donors during a closed-door speech in Missouri about telling Trudeau that the U.S. was at a trade deficit with Canada, even though he wasn't sure of the details and the Canadian prime minister refuted the claim.

"I didn't even know," Trump said according to audio obtained by POLITICO. "I just said, ‘You're wrong.'"

Lovely, our "President" is gleefully pissing off trading partners with whom we actually are on top already. This will certainly end well.

It's one thing for policy to be based on ignorance, another for it to be based on innocently being wrong, and yet another for it to be based on willfully being wrong out of personal preference, just because you can get away with it..



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