In the past, Trump has accused Canada of accepting a $100-billion subsidy from the United States. It's unclear exactly what he is referencing, but it may refer to the trade deficit between the two countries.

But on Tuesday, that purported $100-billion subsidy rose to $200 billion. CTVNews.ca has reached out to Trump's media office to clarify what the $200-billion figure represents.

"I love the Canadian people, they're great," he said. "We're spending hundreds of billions a year to take care of Canada. … We can't do it forever."

It sounds like what is going on here is, Trump is doing the normal Trump thing of starting with a conservative narrative (austerity, cutting off moochers) and brazenly lying about the state of the world to fill in the blanks of that narrative, knowing his supporters are happy to live in a fictional world, knowing he can't be called out on it in a way that will matter, knowing that it will get people to continue paying attention to him.