Trump bragged about making up facts in a meeting with Justin Trudeau and no one is impressed.
According to The Washington Post, Donald Trump bragged about making up facts about the trade deficit (a.k.a. lying). The President's comments were made during a fundraising speech he was giving in Missouri. In the audio obtained by the Post, the President boasts that he was just winging it regarding information about Canada's trade deficit when speaking to Canada's PM Justin Trudeau. He also talked about dropping bowling balls on cars. Yes, for real.
Apparently Trump told Trudeau that Canada had a trade deficit with the United States without actually knowing if that was true. (Surprise! It wasn't.)
Here's what Trump said:
Trudeau came to see me. He’s a good guy, Justin. He said, "No, no, we have no trade deficit with you, we have none. Donald, please." Nice guy, good-looking guy, comes in — ‘Donald, we have no trade deficit.’ He’s very proud because everybody else, you know, we’re getting killed.
... So, he’s proud. I said, ‘Wrong, Justin, you do.’ I didn’t even know. ... I had no idea. I just said, ‘You’re wrong.’ You know why? Because we’re so stupid. … And I thought they were smart. I said, ‘You’re wrong, Justin.’ He said, ‘Nope, we have no trade deficit.’ I said, ‘Well, in that case, I feel differently,’ I said, ‘but I don’t believe it.’ I sent one of our guys out, his guy, my guy, they went out, I said, ‘Check, because I can’t believe it.’
According to the Post, a representative for the Office of the United States Trade says the United States actually has a trade surplus with Canada.
After making those statements, Trump then claimed (speaking of Japan), "It's the bowling ball test. They take a bowling ball from 20 feet up in the air and drop it on the hood of the car. If the hood dents, the car doesn't qualify. It's horrible." No one seems to have any clue what he was talking about there.
After the report came out, people on Twitter condemned Trump for saying something without even being sure it was true.