TRUMP DUMPS ON CANADA U.S. president says he refused to meet with Trudeau, blames Canada’s high tariffs and refusal to budge in NAFTA negotiations
NAFTA negotiator, tariffs irk president, who snubs Trudeau
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y. — U.S. President Donald Trump says he rejected a request for a one-onone NAFTA meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau this week because Canada’s tariffs are too high and its trade negotiators have refused to budge.
Trump made the comments late Wednesday as part of a freewheeling news conference at the end of the United Nations General Assembly.
“Yeah, I did,” Trump said when asked whether he rejected a meeting with Trudeau on the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement.
“His tariffs are too high and he doesn’t seem to want to move. And I’ve told him, forget about it.”
In his response, Trump also complained about Canada’s negotiators and appeared to make a specific reference to Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland — who has been Trudeau’s NAFTA point person since talks began 13 months ago.
“We’re very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada — we don’t like their representative very much,” Trump said.
Shortly after Trump’s news conference, the Prime Minister’s Office disputed the president’s statement — insisting it did not request a meeting. Trudeau’s office declined further comment.
At one point in his response, Trump praised Canada: “I love Canada, by the way, I have so many friends ... but that has nothing to do with this.”
He did, however, reiterate his threat to slap Canadian auto imports to the U.S. with tariffs, which experts say would devastate industries in both countries.
“And, frankly, we’re thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada. That’s the motherlode, that’s the big one.”
Hours earlier, Trudeau gave Canada’s NAFTA-talks nemesis a gentle nudge during his own closing news conference that followed the General Assembly. He told reporters that Trump had insisted repeatedly that punitive American tariffs on steel and aluminum won’t be an issue under a new NAFTA deal.
Trudeau made the comment after being asked about U.S. trade ambassador Robert Lighthizer’s glum assessment of the talks, which remain deadlocked over dispute resolution, access to Canada’s dairy market and the so-called Section 232 tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Trump has said “a few times” that a new deal would mitigate the tariff issue, Trudeau said.
“One of the things in my many conversations with president Trump on the issue of 232 tariffs ... was his insistence that while if we renegotiate NAFTA, if we get to a NAFTA deal, there will be no need to worry about these other things,” Trudeau said at the UN.
“We are continuing to work on getting to a right deal for Canada, a right deal for Canadians, and that involves, obviously, feeling confident about the path forward as we move forward — if we do — on a NAFTA 2.0 and the ... lack of punitive tariffs that we consider are unjust.”
Tuesday, Lighthizer — also in New York for the UN General Assembly — said while the two sides remain far apart on a number of issues, the two sides have agreed for now to deal with the issue of 232 tariffs separately.
“I think the U.S. would like (Canada) to be in the agreement, but there’s a still a fair amount of distance between us,” he said. “On steel and aluminum on this point, we started off trying to have some kind of overall agreement that would accomplish that. I think our view is now we’ll turn to that as a next stage.”
Trudeau’s interactions with the mercurial U.S. president have been a subject of great curiosity over the course of his three days at the General Assembly. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton suggested Monday requests for a bilateral meeting “couldn’t be accommodated.”
Tuesday, what appeared to be a brusque encounter between the leaders — Trump appeared to ignore the prime minister at a UN luncheon until Trudeau tapped him on the shoulder, only to shake hands with a seated president — sent tongues wagging.
“I don’t think there’s anything to read into it,” Trudeau said. “It was an interaction like so many are (at the) UN — quick but cordial. There are all sorts of opportunities for me to speak to president Trump, and that was not the time.”