Vacationing Trump takes aim at Canada again, tackles NFL players for ongoing anthem protests
U.S. president threatens Canada with auto tariffs
BRIDGEWATER, N.J. — President Donald Trump said Friday that a trade deal with Mexico is “coming along nicely.” But he threatened Canada with auto tariffs if the U.S. and Canada can’t forge a deal.
Trump appeared to be referring to efforts to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement between the U.S., Mexico and Canada in his tweet from his golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
He said any deal with Mexico must take care of American autoworkers and farmers, but he praised the new president of Mexico, calling him “an absolute gentleman.”
Trump’s message to Canada was far less friendly.
“Canada must wait,” Trump tweeted. “Their Tariffs and Trade Barriers are far too high. Will tax cars if we can’t make a deal!”
Canada responded with a statement Friday night, saying: “Our focus is unchanged. We’ll keep standing up for Canadian interests as we work toward a modernized trilateral NAFTA agreement.”
Adam Austen, a spokesman for Canada’s foreign minister, added: “We’re glad Mexico and the U.S. continue to work out their bilateral issues. It’s the only way we’ll get to a deal.”
Meanwhile, Trump also sounded off on the ongoing protests of the national anthem by NFL players now that the football preseason has kicked off across the United States.
While the NFL continues discussions with the players’ union regarding anthem policy, players who demonstrate are emphasizing they are protesting social injustice, racial inequality and systematic oppression.
They are not against the country, military, flag or “The Star-Spangled Banner” itself.
Trump wants players to “find another way to protest” and contended “most of them are unable to define” what they’re demonstrating against.
The league and the NFLPA have yet to announce a policy for this season regarding demonstrations during the anthem after the league initially ordered everyone to stand on the sideline when the anthem is played, or remain in the locker room.
In Miami, Dolphins receivers Kenny Stills and Albert Wilson kneeled behind teammates lined up standing along the sideline.
Defensive end Robert Quinn stood and raised his right fist.
Stills said “it would take a lot” for him to stop protesting.
“A good first step for us as a league would be acknowledging what they’re doing to Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid,” Stills said. “You can’t say as a league you support the players and their protests and then blackball the players who initially started the protests.”
Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, began the movement in 2016 and was joined by teammate Eric Reid. Both are unemployed — Kaepernick didn’t play last season, either — and have pending collusion grievances against the NFL.
Kaepernick tweeted support for Stills and Wilson.
Wilson said he feels more free to express himself with the Dolphins than he did with the Kansas City Chiefs, but didn’t elaborate.
“You get a lot of backlash for doing this,” Wilson said. “Nobody wants to bring the negative attention to themselves, but when you have a platform like this and you’re able to speak on certain situations, you want to do that. We’re not harming anybody.”
Writing on Twitter from his New Jersey golf resort, Trump said Friday players “make a fortune doing what they love,” and those who refuse to stand “proudly” for the anthem should be suspended without pay. Quinn had a powerful message for critics. “Hearing the slander that we’re protesting the flag, that’s not it. It’s not a protest. It’s no disrespect to any servicemen or women. They salute with their hand over their heart, I hold my fist up. How can you look at that any different?”
Three Seahawks players, Branden Jackson, Quinton Jefferson and Duane Brown, left the field following team introductions and before the start of the anthem Thursday night.
“I think there are a lot of people that are supportive of the players and then there are a couple of people that have been very vocal against it. Those people have power,” Brown said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Trump has spent his week away mixing downtime and golf rounds with meetings and dinners, intent on projecting the image that he’s been hard at work while vacationing. He said they are renovating the White House during his time away.