--- title: Donald Trump Fundraiser: Read the Full Transcript description: TIME obtained audio of President Trump's remarks at a Missouri fundraiser where he touted his trade policies. canonical: https://time.com/5201386/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-nafta-tariff-transcript/ author: Alana Abramson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-15T19:20:21.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T19:39:45.843Z article:section: Politics og:title: Read Donald Trump's Remarks to Republican Donors About Lying to Justin Trudeau og:description: TIME obtained the audio of remarks the President made in Missouri og:url: https://time.com/5201386/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-nafta-tariff-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteafb083a06acc9ef/69892aaefb4eac3782896022/donald-trump-comments-rex-tillerson-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: President Trump Departs The White House En Route To California og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read Donald Trump's Remarks to Republican Donors About Lying to Justin Trudeau twitter:description: TIME obtained the audio of remarks the President made in Missouri twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteafb083a06acc9ef/69892aaefb4eac3782896022/donald-trump-comments-rex-tillerson-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read Donald Trump's Remarks to Republican Donors About Lying to Justin Trudeau  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 15, 2018 7:20 PM UTC  U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions from the media after the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson before departing from the White House on March 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump is traveling to California to view prototypes of a proposed border wall. U.S. President Donald Trump answers questions from the media after the firing of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson before departing from the White House on March 13, 2018 in Washington, DC. President Trump is traveling to California to view prototypes of a proposed border wall.Photo by Mark Wilson—Getty Images  by [Alana Abramson](https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/)  ## Alana Abramson Mar 15, 2018 7:20 PM UTC President Donald Trump [bragged about lying](http://time.com/5200929/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-trade/) to the Canadian prime minister, [argued a Democrat](https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/03/trump-on-the-lamb/555668/) who just won a special election was just like him and [tried to sell his trade policies](http://time.com/5201197/donald-trump-republican-fundraiser-tariffs/) to a group of Republican donors Wednesday. Speaking behind closed doors at a fundraiser for Attorney General Josh Hawley, who is running for the Republican Senate nomination, Trump said that he told Prime Minister Justin Trudeau that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada, then conceded that he did not know if that was true, according to audio obtained by TIME. ([It is not](http://time.com/5185673/donald-trump-us-cananda-trade-deficit-surplus/).) He also weighed in on the recent special election in Pennsylvania’s 18th congressional district, claiming that Democratic candidate [Conor Lamb](http://time.com/5193497/conor-lamb-pennsylvania-18th-saccone/) is essentially a conservative. “He ran on a campaign that said very nice things about me,” Trump said of Lamb. “I was saying ‘is he a Republican?’ It sounds like a Republican to me. But I guess when you’re popular in a certain area that’s probably a good tactic.” Read the full transcript of Trump’s speech from Hawley’s fundraiser below: --- > “” --- **Read More:** [_President Trump Pitched Tariffs to Republican Donors. He Was Met With Silence_](http://time.com/5201197/donald-trump-republican-fundraiser-tariffs/) --- > “” --- **Read More:** [_President Trump Claims the U.S. Has a Trade Deficit With Canada. That’s Not So Clear_](http://time.com/5185673/donald-trump-us-cananda-trade-deficit-surplus/) --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5201386/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-nafta-tariff-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5201386/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-nafta-tariff-transcript/"},"headline":"Read Donald Trump's Remarks to Republican Donors About Lying to Justin Trudeau","datePublished":"2018-03-15T19:20:21.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T19:39:45.843Z","description":"TIME obtained the audio","url":"https://time.com/5201386/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-nafta-tariff-transcript/","keywords":["White House","Canada","Campaign Finance","trade","free-trade","Donald Trump","transcripts","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteafb083a06acc9ef/69892aaefb4eac3782896022/donald-trump-comments-rex-tillerson-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Alana Abramson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/alana-abramson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteafb083a06acc9ef/69892aaefb4eac3782896022/donald-trump-comments-rex-tillerson-fired.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"President Trump Departs The White House En Route To California","caption":"President Trump Departs The White House En Route To California","creditText":"Photo by Mark Wilson—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5201386/donald-trump-justin-trudeau-nafta-tariff-transcript/","name":"Read Donald Trump's Remarks to Republican Donors About Lying to Justin Trudeau"}}]}] ```