Trump declares love for Canada, Mexico
President floats separate trade deals with both
WASHINGTON— After lashing back at Canada in response to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s criticism of his new tariffs, U.S. President Donald Trump declared that he loves Canada — but also floated the idea of killing the North American Free Trade Agreement that Canada supports and instead creating separate trade deals with Canada and Mexico.
Canada and Mexico both want to stay in the three-country NAFTA that has existed since 1994. Trump’s Friday comments come nine months into the negotiations, which he initiated, that are intended to make changes to that three-country pact.
“To be honest with you . . . I wouldn’t mind seeing NAFTA where you’d go by a different name, where you make a separate deal with Canada and a separate deal with Mexico. Because you’re talking about a very different two countries,” Trump said outside the White House. Canada and the U.S. had their own two-country trade agreement from 1989 until the three-country NAFTA replaced it in 1994.
Trump has been criticized by Canadian and Mexican leaders and numerous members of his own party for hitting such close allies with steel and aluminum tariffs. Trump responded: “They’re our allies, but they take advantage of us economically.”
“I love Canada. I love Mexico. I love ’em. But Mexico’s making over $100 billion a year and they’re not helping us with our border,” Trump said, falsely describing a trade deficit that was $69 billion (U.S.) last year and has never been $100 billion.
Trump’s latest remarks cast further doubt on his commitment to an agreement he described again as “a terrible deal for the United States.” Negotiations have stalled amid several serious disagreements. Negotiators have shrugged off previous musings from the president in the past and continued with the three-country negotiations. Canada has not ruled out the idea of a two-country agreement without Mexico.
Trump criticized Canada on three separate occasions on Thursday and Friday after Trudeau delivered an unusually pointed rebuke of Trump’s tariffs and vowed to retaliate with Canadian tariffs on more than 100 U.S. products. Trudeau taped a Friday interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, which airs Sunday, to make his antitariff case to Americans.