CNN Fact-Checker Spots 2 Biggest Lies In Trump Meeting With Mark Carney

CNN fact-checker Daniel Dale says President Donald Trump did “better than usual” Tuesday — and told only two lies about America’s trade relationship with Canada — during his Oval Office meeting earlier that day with newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney.

“President Trump did not repeat a lot of the lies about Canada that I’ve been fact-checking for months,” Dale confirmed on the air Tuesday. “I counted at least 11 false claims from the president about Canada in 2025; he told two of them, by my count, during this meeting.”

“So, better than usual,” he continued. “But it’s worth fact-checking those two.”

The falsehoods in question: Trump claimed during his televised meeting with Carney that the U.S. subsidizes Canada “to the tune of maybe $200 billion a year” — and that America doesn’t “do much business” with the continental ally.

“This $200 billion figure he uses to describe the trade deficit with Canada … it’s imaginary,” Dale explained Tuesday. “The trade deficit with Canada is not even close to that high. It was about $36 billion, not $200 billion, last year.”

“Even if you only count goods trade, ignore the services trade at which the U.S. excels, [it’s] about $71 billion,” he continued. “So, just wrong.”

Trump announced steep international tariffs last month on all U.S. imports, affecting longstanding trade relationships with allies around the world, including Canada, which he has openly considered annexing as America’s 51st state several times in recent weeks.

His claim that the U.S. does only “like 4%” of annual business with Canada was the second-biggest point of contention for Dale, who is Canadian, and brought some proverbial receipts with him.

“So that 4% figure is wildly inaccurate,” Dale told CNN host Brianna Keilar.

“Again, about 17% of U.S. exports go to Canada,” he said. “I can’t definitively fact-check this claim that we ‘don’t do much business with Canada,’ but Canada was the No. 1 buyer of U.S. exports in 2024, [and] again through March this year, the No. 3 source of U.S. imports.”

Dale argued that these figures make Canada “a major” business and trading partner “by any reasonable standard.” He even expounded on the details in a CNN article, with data showing Canada bought about $440 billion in U.S. goods and services last year.

Then, he concluded in writing, this was “more than any other country” in the world.

Watch Dale’s full analysis below: