Donald Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs of at least ten percent on nearly all American trading partners in a historic speech that was littered with a series of false claims.
Trump announced the measures at the White House Rose Garden on Wednesday, saying the tariffs would punish other countries for years of unfair trade practices and bolster US manufacturing.
Among his unsubstantiated claims were that the US subsidizes Canada with $200 billion a year. Trump has also used this $200 billion figure to describe the US trade deficit with Canada. But figures show the 2024 deficit with Canada in goods and services trade was $35.7 billion and $70.6 billion in goods trade alone.
He also falsely claimed that “the first little carton of milk” exported to Canada faces a “very low price,” but “then it gets up to 275, 300 percent.” In fact, Canada has committed that tens of thousands of metric tons of imported American milk will face no tariffs as part of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
The president also claimed that the United States “took in hundreds of billions of dollars” from China due to tariffs he imposed during his first term in office. The US has had tariffs on Chinese imports since 1789. Former president Barack Obama imposed additional tariffs on Chinese goods.
Trump also said that “the United States was proportionately the wealthiest it has ever been” from 1789 to 1913, when tariffs made up most of federal revenue. But figures show the US is much wealthier today than it...
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