caption Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau (R) speaks with US President Donald Trump during the G7 summit source Leon Neal/Getty Images President Donald Trump claimed Tuesday that Canadians are smuggling goods across the border from the US to avoid high Canadian tariffs. Trump also claimed Canadians are scuffing up shoes in the US to disguise the goods before taking them home. Tariff data shows that the US and Canada charge roughly the same tariffs on imported shoes. President Donald Trump on Tuesday claimed that Canada’s tariffs are so high that its citizens are smuggling goods en masse from the US to avoid the import fees. “There was a story two days ago, in a major newspaper, talking about people living in Canada, coming into the United States, and smuggling things back into Canada because the tariffs are so massive,” Trump said, apparently referring to an op-ed in the New York Post. “The tariffs to get common items back into Canada are so high that they have to smuggle them in. They buy shoes, then they wear them. They scuff them up. They make them sound old or look old.” The comments came as Trump tries to justify an escalating trade battle with Canada over new steel and aluminum tariffs from the Trump administration. In this case, however, Trump appears to have missed the mark. Based on tariff data, the US and Canada aren’t too far off in their treatment of goods – including shoes. According to the International Trade… [Read full story]
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