U.S. President Donald Trump publicly bragged about pressuring Canada to accept his terms for a new North American free-trade agreement after he said the negotiators were 鈥渘ot at all nice鈥� during the talks, but he 鈥渕ade them nice.鈥�
During a long and rambling speech during an annual spring dinner for the National Republican Congressional Committee in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, Trump took aim at several of his country鈥檚 trading partners including China and Canada. The president claimed nearly every nation was taking advantage of the U.S. when it comes to trade.
鈥淓verybody has a trade surplus on us,鈥� he stated.
From there, the president pivoted to boast about his achievement renegotiating the free trade deal, known as USMCA, agreed by the U.S., Mexico, and Canada in late September. However, U.S. Democrats have signalled in recent days the pact should be revisited to satisfy some of their concerns before it鈥檚 officially ratified in all three countries.
鈥淲e have the USMCA 鈥� I hope you guys can get it approved,鈥� he said to his audience. 鈥淚 mean the problem we have is that you have a very hostile group. You have a very, very hostile group on the other side and they don鈥檛 want to see us have success and the USMCA is a great deal.鈥�
At this point in the speech, Trump spoke specifically about the challenge of negotiating with Canada in particular.
鈥淐anada is very, very tough. We love Canada,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e think of the beautiful song, the ice hockey games. O Canada, isn鈥檛 it beautiful? But in the meantime, they knock the hell out of us on trade, and they have been doing it for a long time and they鈥檙e very tough.鈥�
鈥淭hey鈥檙e not at all nice about that situation, but we鈥檝e made them nice. We鈥檝e made them nice and they鈥檙e not happy about what happened.鈥�
Trump went on to declare that U.S. farmers would be able to sell their goods to Canada under the new agreement, which 鈥渢hey were restricted from doing.鈥�
, Canada was the top market for American agricultural exports in 2017 with $20.5 billion worth of goods being sold across the border.
Under the renegotiated deal, U.S. dairy farmers will have a 3.6-per-cent-share of Canada鈥檚 market for poultry, eggs, and dairy products.
It鈥檚 not the first time Trump has remarked on Canada鈥檚 negotiating style during the talks. In September, the president accused Canada of treating the U.S. 鈥渧ery badly.鈥� Earlier that year, Trump said Canada was 鈥渧ery difficult to deal with鈥� and 鈥渧ery spoiled鈥� during ongoing North America free trade negotiations.
Trump begins speaking about Canada at the 1:45:00 mark of the video below.
