Donald Trump has been called out on another lie.
Trump took to Truth Social to lambast one of the United States’ closest allies, writing that Canada “doesn’t even allow U.S. Banks to open or do business here.” Trump then went on to claim that “hundreds of thousands of people” have died due to drugs “pouring” across the Canadian border.
As for Trump’s first claim, it was quickly shot down by Alex Cole on X, who pointed out that “Citibank, J.P. Morgan, and Bank of America all operate in Canada.”
It’s true. According to Canada’s former head of economic and fiscal policy Tyler Meredith, numerous American banks operate within Canada’s borders. Meredith went on to point out that Canadian money is a major source of income for the American banking industry, and U.S. banks netted $500 million CAD from their dealings in Canada last year. Wells Fargo executives would certainly be shocked to hear Trump’s claim that American banks can’t operate in Canada, considering their company has been doing it for over 100 years.
According to Meredith, foreign banks are met with greater scrutiny than domestic ones that open within Canada’s borders, and this is a measure made to protect the Canadian economy from the “cascading consequences” of bank failures that have occurred in the United States. Meredith also pointed out that the United States isn’t the only foreign nation that banks within Canada’s borders, but that the nation also hosts banks from Europe, China and Japan.
Meredith’s statements are corroborated by the Canadian Bankers Association, which pointed out in a statement that there are “16 U.S. based bank subsidiaries and branches with around C$113 billion in assets currently operating in Canada.” The organization went on to highlight the many markets that U.S. banks have access to in Canada, including “corporate and commercial lending,” “treasury services,” and “investment banking.”
In the second half of his Truth Social post, Trump spread another lie about Canada’s contribution to the drug trade. While fentanyl has come into the United States from Canada, the amount seized at the northern border accounts for only 0.2% of all fentanyl seizures in America – about 43 pounds total in 2024.
Trump’s latest Truth Social tirade is hardly his first criticism of Canada. The president has America’s staunch ally at the top of his political hit list for many months now, and recently began trolling the nation as America’s “51st State.” Trump has since upped his antagonistic ante, and threatened that he would turn his joke into a reality by annexing Canada through “economic force.”
While Trump has promised to play political hardball against America’s northern neighbor, he has done little to actually hurt Canadian trade as he promised he would. Trump swore that he would impose a 25% tariff in relation for Canada’s “abusive” treatment of the United States, but rescinded the tariff less than a week after it went into effect. Trump attempted to spin his backpedaling as a foreign policy victory, saying that he had gotten Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to agree to help dam up the minuscule trickle of fentanyl that flows through the U.S./Canada border. Trump offered the same deal to Mexico not days before, delaying his 25% tariff against the nation by 30 days for its pledge to aid in his administration’s fentanyl fight.
In reality, Trump’s hostile treatment of the United States’ neighbors has accomplished nothing but the erosion of its formerly prosperous trade relationship. If Trump intends to continue his effort to turn ally into enemy, he should at least get the facts right.
Published: Feb 4, 2025 11:58 pm