Bombshell Trump remarks leak and throw a last-minute wrench into NAFTA talks with Canada
- President Donald Trump reportedly told reporters in an off-the-record setting that he didn't plan to compromise at all with the Canadians on North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations.
- Trump told Bloomberg News reporters on Thursday that any NAFTA deal would be "totally on our terms."
- But he said he didn't want to make the remarks public because they would be "so insulting" to Canadians, according to The Toronto Star.
- Canadian officials are reportedly aware of Trump's comments, which threw the ongoing talks into disarray on Friday - the same day the Trump administration had hoped to announce a deal.
President Donald Trump threw ongoing trade talks with Canada into disarray Friday morning, after telling reporters in an off-the-record discussion the previous day that he didn't plan to compromise with Canada at all on the North American Free Trade Agreement negotiations, The Toronto Star reported.
Trump told the reporters any deal reached would be "totally on our terms" and suggested that Canadians would have "no choice" but to go along with the plan, out of fear that Trump would impose auto tariffs.
"Off the record, Canada's working their ass off. And every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala," Trump said, according to The Star, referring to a car produced at a General Motors plant in Canada.
Trump also told the reporters he didn't want his comments published because it would be "so insulting" to Canadians.
"Here's the problem. If I say no - the answer's no. If I say no, then you're going to put that, and it's going to be so insulting they're not going to be able to make a deal … I can't kill these people," he said. "Again off the record, they came knocking on our doors last night. 'Let's make a deal. Please.'"
The Canadian government is reportedly aware of Trump's remarks, and one official told The Star that the Americans are not offering "any movement" on the issues Canada wants to negotiate. The White House told The Toronto Star it was still looking into the authenticity of Trump's reported remarks.
NAFTA talks came down to the wire Friday morning, as officials from Canada and the US attempted to reach a deal by the end of the day.
Canada and the US have been at loggerheads over several key NAFTA provisions, particularly agricultural and trade dispute resolution issues. The US has demanded concessions from Canada on its protected dairy market, while Canada is fighting to keep the dispute-settlement mechanism that the US wants to eliminate.
The talks followed an announcement by Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto on Monday that the US and Mexico had reached a preliminary deal - a move seen as upping the stakes for Canadian negotiators, who risked being excluded from a bilateral agreement.