Does the U.S have a trade deficit with Canada?

[IGMOW (I Go My Own Way)Participant 2572]

Trump tweeted this, and was reported that he made the same at a fundraiser:

We do have a Trade Deficit with Canada, as we do with almost all countries (some of them massive). P.M. Justin Trudeau of Canada, a very good guy, doesn’t like saying that Canada has a Surplus vs. the U.S.(negotiating), but they do…they almost all do…and that’s how I know!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 15, 2018

Breitbart even said that it isn’t true, and the U.S has a trade surplus:
http://video.breitbart.com/Trump-insists-on-US-trade-deficit-with-Canada-despite-surplus-33638545

So, what is the truth here?

"I am my own thang. Any questions?" - Davis S Pumpkins.

[GrumpyParticipant]

Depends on how you want to look at it I suppose.
If you ignore that most companies in Canada are actually owned/controlled by U.S interests, and then use the population variance as an indicator of trade value/volume, then the answer would be yes.
325.7 Million (USA) vs 36.2 million (Canada).
However if you also understand that according to the current NAFTA agreement, the USA does not pay more than what it costs Canadians for anything from Canada.
Canadians however pay full market value (in US dollars) for products from the USA, giving credence to a solid No answer.

Having said that, in plenty of cases it is actually cheaper for Canadians to order some things from the USA, pay all shipping/taxes/tariffs themselves and wait a couple days, than to go to most “stores”.

There was a time in my life when I gave a fuck. Now you have to pay ME for it

[Anonymous 1]

The only thing blatantly false about that statement is that Justin Trudeau is a very good guy.

[IGMOW (I Go My Own Way)Participant 2572]

Anonymous wrote:

The only thing blatantly false about that statement is that Justin Trudeau is a very good guy.

You may, in the future, end up actually posting some facts, instead of just posting something like that, which comes off like an opinion. I was able to find this article, for example:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-12-12/trump-may-actually-be-right-about-the-trade-deficit-with-canada

That article goes into some details on how Canada and the United States report exports differently, and it causes confusion. Unless you aren’t the one to post articles you read, I trust you didn’t even read it prior to now, and actually have no information to back up your claim. Without that, you are just going by the feels. I guess that is ok, but doesn’t resolve anything. I have had the feels once, and I assume I had a lot of money. I then checked my checking account and found out it wasn’t so. I find the feels really doesn’t answer anything.

"I am my own thang. Any questions?" - Davis S Pumpkins.

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