Yikes! Trump’s Take on the U.S./Canada Trade Issue

This past Thursday, in response to a WH reporter’s question about trade with Canada, Trump claimed the U.S. was “losing $62B a year on average with Canada”. He goes on to say, “If you really look at it, we are losing more than that”. “It’s too much, we don’t want to lose it anymore”.

If not totally confused, “Snoozy D” is clearly trying to mislead.

The trade balance between any two countries measures BOTH goods and services. The $62B he refers to is actually the approximate trade deficit between the U.S. and Canada in 2024 for goods only.  In that year, we bought $412B of “goods” from Canada.  They bought $351B from us.  That’s not a trade “loss”, it’s a trade deficit.

At any rate, Trump does NOT include the “services” portion of the total trade balance in his claim. Just the “goods” portion.  I’m guessing for effect. In fact, including the U.S. “services” surplus experienced in 2024 actually lowers the trade deficit to roughly $30B.

The U.S. is not “losing” $62B from Canada.  We simply bought more “goods” from them then they did from us.  How hard is that to understand? 

Apparently, it is for some.

NUFF SED!!!