Bewilderment and frustration roiled the nation Saturday morning as news spread President Donald Trump had threatened to cut trade with Canada because America doesn't need a cinnamon-flavored candy he mistakenly asserted came from Mexico.
Trump made his confusing comment to a reporter in the Oval Office Friday during which he "explained" — or thought he did — how trade deficits work.
"We could do tremendous good for ourselves by just not trading with countries," Trump said. "We lose, with the European Union, $200 billion a year. If I didn't trade with them, we'd lose nothing."
This comment, posted on X by journalist account Acyn, was quickly subject to a fact-check from readers.
"The trade deficit is not a debt, it does not represent losing money to the other country," the reader comment states. "It means more goods were imported from it than exported to it."
The comment cites a Stanford University Hoover Institution by David R. Henderson called "Trade deficits aren't a problem."
"It’s easiest to see that at the individual level," Henderson wrote. "My wife and I have about a $5,000 annual trade deficit with Safeway. We spend approximately $5,000 per year at Safeway and Safeway spends zero on my articles and speeches. More’s the pity, as the British say, but that’s the way it is."
The president of the United States apparently couldn't grasp this concept.
"Just one swipe of the pen," he said. "We lose, with Mexico, $195 billion a year. If I don't trade with Mexico, they have nothing that we have to have. I mean, Hot Tamales, tomatoes, a couple of things. But basically they have nothing that we need."
Hot Tamales are produced by the company Just Born, which was founded in New York, Trump's home state, in 1923 and has since moved to Pennsylvania, according to its website. They boast that they produce "America’s #1 Cinnamon flavored candy."
Hot Tamales aside, Trump claimed he would not cut trade with Mexico because he respects their president, then quietly threatened that he could cut trade with Canada.
"Canada would be in a heap of trouble," Trump said. "I don't think they'd exist."
Critics were stunned.
"Hot tamales?" replied Ron Filipowski. "WTF?"
The Intellectualists summarized the statement thusly: "Trump claims trading is bad."
"He's just stupid," X influencer RogerZenAF told his 37,000 followers. "Being a little dense or ditzy is normal, he's just plain f---ing dumb."
Randy Shulman, editor of the Washington, D.C. LGBTQ+ magazine Metro Weekly, said simply, "He is the dumbest racist alive."