U.S.-Canada trade deficit is highest in 20 years. Does it justify tariffs? – National [Video]

When U.S. President Donald Trump complains about Canada, he constantly brings up the imbalance in trade between the two countries.

It’s an issue — or non-issue, according to economists — that dates back decades: Canada typically sells more goods and services to the United States than it buys.

The reason is largely tied to the price of crude oil, which Canada exports in the amount of millions of barrels every day to its southern ally. But Trump has inaccurately equated the existing deficit as a “subsidy,” claiming the U.S. is economically propping up Canada, and has threatened to tariff those Canadian goods it sells in the name of “fairness.”

“They’ve taken advantage of us for years, and we’re not going to allow that to happen,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One over the weekend.

“Without our subsidy, Canada doesn’t exist, really. Canada is totally reliant on us. Therefore, it should be a state.”

Mahmood …