Summary:
At a private fundraiser, Trump said that he told Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the United States has a trade deficit with Canada. He later defended the point in a tweet, arguing that Canada is just one of many nations that we had a trade deficit with. In fact, Trump came out saying he had no idea if this was true. However, according to the Department of Commerce, we have almost a three billion trade surplus with Canada. Trump later came out and tried to clarify his point, arguing that if we ignored services and only looked at goods there would be a trade deficit. However, services make up almost 80% of the American economy, and the structure of the Canadian economy is quite similar. Trump’s administration has yet to release a statement on why he lied to Trudeau, but analysts have seen this as part of his approach to overhaul the North American Free Trade Agreement.
Analysis:
I am quite surprised by Trump’s actions. It is amazing that he made up facts to argue with another world leader—especially one that is historically allied with America. I don’t know why he couldn’t say he wasn’t sure, and after Trudeau called him out on it he continued to defend his unbiased argument. In my opinion, his backpedaling is not much more effective, and once again he could have simply apologised and moved on. I am unsure of the benefits of lying to other leaders, but perhaps there is a merit that I am unaware of.
Questions:
- Will this be beneficial for the new NAFTA in any way? If Trudeau believed him for a time, would the situation be different?
- If this situation involved another country that we were less friendly with, would the situation be better? Would it be worse?
- Does Trump’s arguments of “goods not services” hold any traction? Should it?
- Do facts even matter now?
3 comments:
Trump's lying is actually very normal considering Trump's nature. He is a constant liar, and this is no exception. Trump is a good businessman as he is able to make millions or even billions of dollars, however he is not cut out for these presidential affairs. To me, Trump probably thinks he can bluff others so that they feel pressured enough to agree with him. This is a very common business strategy to get what you want, but as we can see here, it probably will not work against Trudeau. Whatever comes out of Trump's mouth should be taken with a grain of salt. Trump probably does not do research, so many if not all of his words backfire against him. Trade is all about agreement, so I think the new NAFTA that Trump is trying to create is only beneficial to the USA. However, for there to be agreement, there has to be some benefits for other countries, like Canada. Thus I do not think that this new NAFTA will succeed if Trump keeps to his ways, which he probably will.
First of all, Ethan, I just wanted to say that I appreciate the passive aggression here. I really got a good laugh. Anyways, I think that the "real goods only" comment Trump made does not matter at all. The econ textbook we use includes both goods and services, therefore Trump cannot simply rule services out. That isn't how it works. Also, perhaps Trump's pride is too high to be straight up and say that he did not know for sure at the time of the event. It's okay to be unsure, so it's not a big deal to say just that? Trump will probably continue to be excused for lying, though.
I am... disgusted... It is so upsetting that people could support and even believe someone who constantly lies (especially that his lying doesn't even protect anything). The fact that he would ignore facts and make something up to another leader is shocking to me, even though he has lied so many times before.
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