The first casualties in trade wars are often the facts. And with the U.S. president in full-blown Art of the Deal negotiating mode on tariffs and the North American Free Trade Agreement, there are trade statistics to prove just about any point. Many of them are actually true.<\/p>\n
Earlier this week, an audio recording emerged<\/a>\u00a0from a speech to donors in which Donald Trump boasted about making up facts to mislead Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that Canada was running a large trade surplus with the U.S.:<\/p>\n \u201cNice guy, good-looking guy, comes in \u2014 \u2018Donald, we have no trade deficit.\u2019 He\u2019s very proud because everybody else, you know, we\u2019re getting killed.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201c\u2026 So, he\u2019s proud. I said, \u2018Wrong, Justin, you do.\u2019 I didn\u2019t even know \u2026 I had no idea. I just said, \u2018You\u2019re wrong.\u2019 You know why? Because we\u2019re so stupid \u2026 And I thought they were smart. I said, \u2018You\u2019re wrong, Justin.\u2019 He said, \u2018Nope, we have no trade deficit.\u2019 I said, \u2018Well, in that case, I feel differently,\u2019 I said, \u2018but I don\u2019t believe it.\u2019 I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, \u2018Check, because I can\u2019t believe it.’\u201d<\/p>\n A day later, the president doubled down on his assertion<\/a> in a tweet that kept trade officials shaking their heads.<\/p>\n\n