Things Donald Trump has said about Canada
Former U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt once said about Canada, “I have never heard a Canadian refer to an American as a ‘foreigner.’ He is just an ‘American.’ And, in the same way, in the United States, Canadians are not ‘foreigners,’ they are “Canadians.”
Former U.S. President John F. Kennedy once said of Canada, “Geography has made us neighbors. History has made us friends. Economics has made us partners. And necessity has made us allies. Those whom nature hath so joined together, let no man put asunder. What unites us is far greater than what divides us.”
Former U.S. President George W. Bush once said about Canada, “There’s a lot of people in my country who respect Canada and have great relations with Canadians, and we intend to keep it that way.”
Former U.S. President Barack Obama once said of Canada, “There are no closer friends that we have than the Canadians. And we share values, we share culture. The ties between our people are extraordinary.”
About Canada, U.S. President Donald Trump said in June, “They buy shoes and they wear them. They scuff them up to make them sound old or look old. No, we’re treated horribly.”
And on the week of Sept. 26, as NAFTA talks with Canada continued to limp ahead, the U.S. president said the two countries’ negotiators were “not getting along” and that his team does not like Canada’s representative.
He did not specify which representative he was referring to, but Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is the political lead for Canada’s negotiating team and is the direct counterpart to U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Trump has said so many perplexing things about Canada, we decided to compile this gallery.
Heed this warning before proceeding though: The things said in some of these quotes are factually incorrect or are misrepresentations of facts.
The U.S. president’s comment about a widespread Canadian custom of smuggling scuffed shoes was incorrect.
Economists say Trump’s claims that trade between our two countries tipped heavily in Canada’s favour are skewed and inaccurate.
And it was British colonists who burned down the White House in 1814, not Canadians.