Fact check: Trump repeats false claim that Canada prohibits US banks

As his 25% tariffs on imported Canadian products took effect on Tuesday, President Donald Trump repeated one of his many false claims about Canada – wrongly saying, again, that Canada prohibits US banks from operating there.

As his 25% tariffs on imported Canadian products took effect on Tuesday, President Donald Trump repeated one of his many false claims about Canada – wrongly saying, again, that Canada prohibits US banks from operating there. “Canada doesn’t allow American Banks to do business in Canada, but their banks flood the American Market. Oh, that seems fair to me, doesn’t it?” Trump wrote in a social media post on Tuesday morning. CNN and others debunked Trump’s claim a month ago. “There’s nothing prohibiting American banks from operating here, including having retail branches,” Cristie Ford, a professor at the University of British Columbia’s law school, said in an email in February. Canada tightly regulates the banking industry, and it requires various government approvals before a foreign-owned bank can open in the country. But US banks have been operating in Canada for well over a century; the Canadian Bankers Association, an industry group, said in a February statement that “there are 16 U.S.-based bank subsidiaries and branches with around C$113 billion in assets currently operating in Canada” and that “U.S. banks now make up approximately half of all foreign bank assets in Canada.” Tyler Meredith, former head of economic and fiscal policy for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, noted on social media in February that Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, US Bank, JPMorgan, and Northern Trust are among the US banks with current Canadian operations. You can see the others here and here.