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| Trump gave a virtual speech complaining about Canada |
US President Donald Trump took his tirade against Canada to the international stage when he gave a virtual rambling speech at the Davos economic forum in Switzerland.
People in attendance audibly gasped as he continued to complain about his northern neighbour, saying there was a US$200-$250 billion trade deficit.
"We're not going to have that anymore. We can't do it," he said. "As you probably know, I say, 'You can always become a state, and if you're a state, we won't have a deficit. We won't have to tariff you," he said alluding to the 25 percent tax he is threatening on Canadian goods and services.
But according to the US government's Bureau of Economic Analysis, the trade deficit is more like US$40.6 billion, a massive exaggeration.
CNN explains the deficit is caused by the US importing large amounts of inexpensive Canadian crude oil, which the US then refines and helps keep its gas prices low. It has been pointed out that Trump picked a bad time to complain about oil prices during winter, when places like Texas and Louisiana are experiencing their worst winter storm in 120 years.
However, Trump claimed Canada was difficult to deal with and repeated his complaint about not needing the country's products: "We don't need them to make our cars, and they make a lot of them. We don't need their lumber because we have our own forests. We don't need their oil and gas."
Trump doesn't seem to be aware that the US imported 3.9 million barrels of crude oil from Canada per day in 2023, and is in high demand by refineries, particularly in the Midwest.
"If [hypothetically] Canadian oil were not available, many US refineries would struggle to find heavy crude elsewhere, and they might even stop operating in such a scenario. Historically, Venezuela had been a large producer of heavy crude, but Venezuela's oil industry is a shadow of its former self," said Pavel Molchanov, an energy expert who is an investment strategy analyst at Raymond James to CNN.
"So in fact, importing Canadian oil helps protect jobs in the US refining industry. Furthermore, US refining companies appreciate the fact that Canadian heavy crude is cheaper than the light sweet crude that is produced in Texas and Louisiana."
But Trump was not finished with Canada or the rest of the NATO countries. He is demanding they all increase their military spending to 5 percent of their GDP. The US is at 3.4 percent.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hit back in Ottawa, saying Canada has almost tripled its defence budget and promised to get to NATO's current target of 2 percent, though it make take a few years to reach that.
Although Trump is taunting Canada about becoming the 51st state, polls in the US show this idea is very unpopular with Americans. In a recent Wall Street Journal survey, 58 percent of respondents strongly opposed it, while 11 percent were in favour.
