A screenshot authentically shows a social media post from U.S. President Donald Trump that said, “Unless Canada agrees to pay a 100% TARIFF on Niagara Falls, we will be turning off the tap to the falls. That’s right — NO WATER FOR CANADA!”
A rumor circulated online in September 2026 that U.S. President Donald Trump shared a social media post threatening 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.”
People on social media shared a purported screenshot of a Truth Social post that appeared to show Trump complaining about trade relations with Canada. The text read (emphasis ours):
NO MORE FREE NIAGARA FALLS FOR CANADA! For far too long, Canada has been enjoying our water, our views, our tourists, and our great American waterfall — NIAGARA FALLS! They get the Canadian side, they take the mist, the water, and billions of dollars from tourism, all while treating the United States unfairly on trade, lumber, energy, and so many other things. It’s a total disgrace! Effective immediately, unless Canada agrees to pay a 100% TARIFF on Niagara Falls, we will be turning off the tap to the falls. That’s right — NO WATER FOR CANADA! 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. That ends now! If they want the water, the mist, the tourism, and the beauty of Niagara Falls, they must pay 100% or they don’t get it. No more free rides, no more unfair treatment, and no more taking advantage of the United States. AMERICA FIRST! KEEP OUR WATER IN AMERICA! Thank you for your attention to this matter.
President DONALD J. TRUMP
The alleged post circulated online as Trump escalated an ongoing trade war with Canada, leading many Snopes readers to ask us whether it was real.
(@CoffinItUp on X)
The post was fake. Searches of the president’s Truth Social and X accounts, as well as an online archive of Trump’s Truth Social posts, revealed no such post.
Addtionally, searches of Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo returned no relevant results from reputable news outlets. If the president had really said he planned on “turning off the tap to the falls,” journalists with reputable news outlets such as The Associated Press or Reuters would have widely reported on it, and those search inquiries would have uncovered such evidence. That was not the case.
A reverse image search of the screenshot in question found only other social media accounts posting the same fake image.
The fake screenshot included a watermark for Real America’s Voice, a conservative media outlet that highlights community contributions. However, a search of ARV’s social media accounts and website revealed no mention of a Trump post discussing Niagara Falls.
The fake post circulated amid the United States’ trade war with Canada, which has led to tit-for-tat tariffs on goods from both countries.
It appeared the fake post was created to poke fun at these events, including a real social media post from Trump about renaming Lake Ontario to “Lake America.”
Snopes could not determine the origin of the fake post or whether it was intended as satire, but its tone and relevance to current events matched the style of other fake Trump posts with satirical origins.
Trump couldn’t unilaterally “turn off the tap” for Niagara Falls, as its water is managed by the 1950 Niagara Treaty, which established a committee that “oversees the water flow over the Niagara Falls for display purposes” and “determines the amount of water available for generating power.”
The committee reports to both the U.S. and Canadian governments “and is comprised of government and private sector interests, such as Ontario Power Generation,” according to the Government of Canada’s website.
For further reading, we fact-checked a claim that Trump posted an animated video of himself repeatedly hitting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney with a hockey stick.
