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Turning off Niagara Falls?

 


No, he appears not to have said that. 

A rumor has circulated online in recent days to the effect that President Trump has threatened to turn off the water to Niagara Falls, a natural landmark famously shared by the U.S. and Canada, unless Canada agreed to pay a "100% tariff."

The rumor is generally accompanied by an ALLEGED screenshot of the "Truth Social" posting that in turn includes these words,  

We have the control. We have the valves. We can reduce the flow, or shut it down completely, and we will if necessary. Canada has been taking advantage of the United States for decades, getting a world-famous natural resource basically for free while insulting our country and making it harder for American businesses. 

Snopes has looked into it and has concluded that the screen shot is a fake and the rumor it supports is just false. Perhaps it was an effort at satire gone awry, 

Anyway, for the curious, the chief executive of the United Staes does not "have the valves".  In accordance with a 1950 treaty between the two countries, a joint committee exists to oversee the waterflow over the falls both for power generation and for "display purposes," i.e. pleasing the considerable tourist trade of economic importance on both sides of the border.      

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