President Donald Trump was caught bragging at a private fundraising event in Missouri about lying to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the leader of one of America's closest allies.
"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," Trump bragged to the audience, according to The Washington Post.
Trump added, "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.’"
As Trump admitted at the end of his anecdote, it turned out that Trudeau was correct about America actually having a trade surplus with Canada rather than a trade deficit. Nevertheless, he insisted that this didn't include energy and timber because if it did, "we lose $17 billion a year.’ It’s incredible."
The president also delivered an odd story about Japan’s car-making practices.
“It’s the bowling ball test. They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car. If the hood dents, the car doesn’t qualify. It’s horrible," Trump told the audience.
The story left people scratching their heads, as no one could say for a fact that it had happened. But what people did realize was that bowling balls were part of a car commercial.
Trump has spent most of his public life criticizing America's trade deals as working to the disadvantage of the United States, tracing all the way back to the first presidential campaign he considered running in 1988. As president, he has pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, pledged to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement and slapped tariffs on aluminum and steel imports. The last policy decision prompted the exodus of Trump's top economic adviser, Gary Cohn.
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