CNN Torpedoes Blizzard of Trump Claims Ahead of Meeting With Canadian PM
CNN anchor Kate Bolduan brought in fact-checker Daniel Dale to torpedo a raft of claims ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
Trump and Carney will meet in the Oval Office Tuesday morning for the first time, after Carney was propelled to victory in an election that many credit to Canadian animosity toward Trump over his trade policies and relentless threats to annex the country.
On Tuesday’s edition of CNN News Central, Dale knocked down a handful of Trump’s claims about Canada, but found a “kernel of truth” in one of them:
KATE BOLDUAN: You highlight something that he posted in March on social media, saying that Canada is one of the highest-tariffing nations anywhere in the world. What are the facts around that?
DANIEL DALE: The facts are that Canada is a low-tariff country. The last international data we have from 2022, the World Bank published them. Canada was 102nd on a list of 137 countries’ average tariffs. One of the countries it had lower average tariffs than? The United States.
Now, President Trump often makes this claim in the context of Canada’s agricultural tariffs. He highlights Canada’s high dairy tariffs. He does not mention that those high dairy tariffs only kick in after a certain quantity of tariff-free U.S. Exports to Canada — a certain quantity negotiated in his own USMCA — are hit, and that the U. S. Is not even close to hitting those maximum quantities.
He also does not mention that the US Department of Agriculture itself says on its website that almost all U. S. Agricultural exports to Canada are tariff-free and barrier-free.
So, the milk stuff, the dairy stuff, that exists, but again, there are exemptions. And number two, those are the exception, not the rule.
KATE BOLDUAN: And Daniel, over the weekend, President Trump took a shot at Canada’s military spending. Let me play this.
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: Canada, they spend less money on military than practically any nation in the world. They pay NATO less than any nation.
KATE BOLDUAN: What are the facts around this one?
DANIEL DALE: This is not even close to true.
Now, there is a kernel of truth, and presidents from both parties have long chided Canada for not spending more on its military. You hear that from some Canadian officials as well.
But Canada is low on the NATO list. It’s not last. So in terms of spending as a percentage of GDP, Canada is fifth-lowest in NATO, not lower than any nation.
And in terms absolute military spending, so not factoring in the size of each country’s economy, Canada’s actually eighth-highest in NATO. So absolute spending. 8Th highest.
And again, if you look at the world list, there’s a think tank based in Sweden that tracks international military spending. Canada is the 16th highest absolute military spender in the world.
So the president used the word practically here, but practically or not, Canada is not even close to the world’s lowest military spender.
KATE BOLDUAN: And, Daniel, the president has continued to say that the United States has a massive trade deficit with Canada, so I think he talks about it in the ballpark of like $200 billion.
What are you seeing? What’s the truth in this as they walk into this meeting to ostensibly talk about this?
DANIEL DALE: He says the number 200 billion almost every time he talks about Canada, it is wildly overstated.
So the United States goods and services trade deficit with Canada in 2024 was about, it was under 40 billion, under 40 billions. So he’s, it’s almost about 36 billion, I’m sorry. So he is multiplying it by several times.
Now, if you only talk about trade in goods and ignore the services trade at which the United State excels, he’s still grossly exaggerating it. It’s about 71 billion in that case.
Almost all of President Trump’s trade deficit figures with Countries around the world are grossly inflated, and this one is no exception.
KATE BOLDUAN: Daniel, thank you so much. Stick close, we’ll need you probably after this meeting wraps as well. Thank you, sir.
Watch above via CNN News Central.
