Donald Trump Trade

“You were slightly off”

Written by SK Ashby

Axios reports that Trump has sent hand-written chicken scratch notes to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, a feat so bizarre than Canada's ambassador to the United States, David MacNaughton, thought it was a hoax.

But it was not a hoax. Trump really did send letters to Trudeau and he reportedly used the opportunity to complain about our non-existent trade deficit with Canada.

Trudeau, being the master level troll that he evidently is, replied to Trump with his own letter alongside a printout from the office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) that showed we have a trade surplus with Canada.

Trump wrote in Sharpie on the document: "Not good!!" or something to that effect, the source recalled. Trump's document only mentioned America's deficit in the trade of goods and ignored its surplus in services (the two combined would gave the U.S. its overall surplus).

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"One thing," Trudeau added. "You gave a great speech in Pensacola, but you were slightly off on the balance of trade with Canada. USTR says so! All the best for 2018, Justin."

The second page of the letter brought the kicker. Trudeau enclosed a printout of Canada's informational page from the website of the Office of the United States Trade Representative.

Trudeau underlined the section on the USTR website, which at the time reported that "the U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $12.5 billion in 2016." Trudeau circled the $12.5 billion and drew a cheeky little smiley face next to it, according to a source with direct knowledge.

Trump reportedly wrote all of his notes in sharpie like some kind of large child so it's entirely fitting that Trudeau replied in a manner that a child would understand.