Trump says he made up facts in Justin Trudeau trade meeting: 'I had no idea. I just said "you're wrong"'
Donald Trump reportedly boasted at a fundraising dinner about making up facts in a meeting with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau.
The US President admitted he told Mr Trudeau America had a trade deficit with its North American neighbour when he actually “had no idea” if it was true, according to an audio recording obtained by The Washington Post.
“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,’ ” Mr Trump allegedly said to guests at the fundraiser in Missouri.
“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’.”
In 2016, the US had a trade surplus of $12.5bn with Canada, according to the Office of the United States Trade Representative.
“Well, sir, you’re actually right,” Mr Trump continued. “We have no deficit, but that doesn’t include energy and timber… And when you do, we lose $17 billion a year.’ It’s incredible.”
The comments emerged just hours after Mr Trudeau said he trusted the billionaire.
“In terms of commitments that he’s made to me, in conversations we’ve had about things that matter, he has been consistent with me,” the prime minister told Bloomberg.
According to The Post, Mr Trump went on to launch an attack on the European Union, Japan, South Korea and China for their trade practices, and again described the North American Free Trade Agreement (Nafta) as a disaster.
The 71-year-old also appeared to threaten to pull troops out of South Korea unless it gave the President what he wanted on trade, the newspaper reported.
“We have a very big trade deficit with them, and we protect them,” Mr Trump said. “We lose money on trade, and we lose money on the military. We have right now 32,000 soldiers on the border between North and South Korea. Let’s see what happens.”
“Our allies care about themselves. They don’t care about us.”
The White House has been contacted for comment.
