Amid U.S.-Canada commerce warfare, Trump makes some false or deceptive claims to justify tariffs

President Trump has made a variety of inaccurate claims about Canada prior to now week as he imposed new tariff hikes on the nation and touted his plans for extra.

On Wednesday morning, Mr. Trump imposed a blanket 25% tariff on international metal and aluminum, considerably impacting Canada, the biggest international provider of those metals to the U.S. A further 25% tariff on most Canadian items is ready to enter impact on April 2.

Consultants warn these hikes may result in will increase in shopper costs, however Mr. Trump has justified them partially by saying he is defending American producers and incentivizing Canada to crack down on drug crime. 

Nonetheless, in interviews and social media posts, Mr. Trump has exaggerated the dimensions of the united statestrade deficit with Canada and the quantity of fentanyl coming over the northern border. The president additionally misrepresented Canada’s tariffs on U.S. dairy and lumber merchandise.

Here is a breakdown of a few of these claims:

Trump’s deceptive declare that Canada has tariffs above 200% on U.S. dairy merchandise 

President Trump mentioned March 7: “In Canada, we discover that they are charging us over 200% for dairy merchandise… And once I left, we had that properly taken care of, however below Biden they only saved elevating it.” 

Particulars: President Trump has recommended Canada unfairly put tariffs of over 200% on American dairy merchandise throughout President Biden’s time period, however the degree has been unchanged since earlier than Biden took workplace.

The over 200% tariffs on U.S. dairy merchandise are solely triggered if U.S. dairy exports exceed sure yearly duty-free limits, and U.S. dairy producers say they’ve by no means been near exceeding these limits. 

Moreover, these tariffs have been negotiated throughout the United States-Mexico-Canada Settlement, which Mr. Trump signed throughout his first time period. Canada’s printed tariff lists for 2020 and 2025 present tariffs on U.S. dairy merchandise have remained unchanged from the top of his first time period by way of the top of President Biden’s time period. For instance, each lists present the identical tariff charge of 245.5% for any cheese merchandise above the duty-free restrict.

Canadian Ambassador to the U.S. Kirsten Hillman informed informed CBS Information the dairy tariffs are in place to “shield our farmers and households.” Canada is the second-largest importer of U.S. dairy, buying about $1.1 billion price in 2024. 

The U.S. bought roughly double the quantity of dairy to Canada as Canada bought to the U.S. final yr, based on commerce knowledge from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Trump’s deceptive declare that Canada has a “tremendously excessive tariff” on lumber whereas the U.S. fees “a tiny fraction of that”

President Trump mentioned March 7: “They’ve a tremendously excessive tariff, provide the precise numbers in a short while popping out, on lumber. So, they promote us lumber, they’ve an incredible tariff. They make it unattainable for us to promote lumber or dairy merchandise into Canada, however our numbers are a tiny fraction of that, nearly non-existent.” 

Particulars: On March 4, Canada imposed a tariff of 25% on softwood lumber from the U.S., a charge that’s excessive in comparison with current historical past. 

However Mr. Trump didn’t point out these tariffs are a part of Canada’s response to the 25% levies on most Canadian items, together with lumber, that the Trump administration initially introduced in early March, which at the moment are anticipated to take impact on April 2.

Earlier than this commerce escalation, Canada had imposed zero tariffs on U.S. softwood lumber for years, based on Dustin Jalbert, a senior economist at Fastmarkets who covers wooden merchandise. 

“It is definitely true that proper now there are tariffs in place, however that was not the case earlier than the kickoff of the commerce warfare. These are retaliatory to what the U.S. instigated, if you’ll, in early March,” Jalbert mentioned.

The U.S. had beforehand positioned duties on imported softwood lumber, with tariffs on Canadian lumber rising from 8% to 14.5% in 2024.

Trump’s false declare that the U.S. has a $200 billion commerce deficit with Canada

President Trump mentioned March 13: “Within the case of Canada, we’re spending $200 billion a yr to subsidize Canada.” 
And on Feb. 26 he mentioned: “The tariffs will make it unattainable for them to promote lumber or anything into america. And all I am asking to do is break even or lose slightly bit, however not lose $200 billion.” 

Particulars: Mr. Trump has repeatedly exaggerated the U.S.-Canada commerce deficit, claiming it is as massive as $200 billion.  

Actually, the U.S. commerce deficit in items and providers with Canada in 2024 was nearer to $35.7 billion, based on the newest commerce knowledge launched from the U.S. Census Bureau on March 6.  That commerce deficit narrowed from $40.6 billion in 2023. 

For items alone, the U.S. purchased $70.6 billion extra in items from Canada than it bought in 2024, down from $72.3 billion in 2023. 

The overwhelming driver of the deficit with Canada is that the U.S. buys lots of unrefined oil from the nation, based on Julian Karaguesian, a lecturer on the division of economics at McGill College.

“A number of Canadian economists say should you take out power, Canada is operating a small deficit with america,” Karaguesian mentioned.

Trump’s deceptive declare that enormous quantities of fentanyl come from Canada 

President Trump mentioned in his tackle to Congress March 4: “A lot has been mentioned during the last three months about Mexico and Canada, however now we have very massive deficits with each of them. However much more importantly, they’ve allowed fentanyl to come back into our nation at ranges by no means seen earlier than, killing a whole lot of 1000’s of our residents.” 

Particulars: Mr. Trump has cited Canada’s failure to halt the movement of illicit medication as a motive for imposing tariffs, saying that fentanyl has been coming from the nation “at ranges by no means seen earlier than.” He claimed, “The fentanyl coming by way of Canada is very large.” 

Nonetheless, Mr. Trump overstates the quantity of fentanyl coming throughout the northern border. In 2024, U.S. Customs and Border Patrol seized 43 kilos of fentanyl on the U.S.-Canada border, accounting for roughly 0.2% of all fentanyl seized by CBP that yr. In contrast, roughly 21,100 kilos — about 96.6% of the full — was seized on the southern border.

contributed to this report.