“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?” posted convicted felon President Trump on Tuesday.
Last month the New York Post, of all outlets, laid out a very detailed explainer for why Trump is full of shit on this claim and that he’s simply mistaking American banks’ unwillingness to operate under stricter minimum liquidity buffer requirements for retail banking operations as a ban on Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, Capital One, and so on from opening branches. In fact, per the Post, Canadian law explicitly says American banks can open retail branches if they want to. They don’t but they’re happy to do business in the investment, commercial, and personal wealth sectors, operations for which Chase alone employs over 600 Canadians working out of offices in every major city.
Altogether American banks control around $113 billion in Canadian assets, something that surely could be reduced to $0 with a little elbow grease if Trump really wants it that way.