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 ânot at all niceâ during the talks, but he âmade them nice.â
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 countryâs trading partners including China and Canada. The president claimed nearly every nation was taking advantage of the U.S. when it comes to trade.
âEverybody has a trade surplus on us,â 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 itâs officially ratified in all three countries.
âWe have the USMCA â I hope you guys can get it approved,â he said to his audience. âI 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 donât want to see us have success and the USMCA is a great deal.â
At this point in the speech, Trump spoke specifically about the challenge of negotiating with Canada in particular.
âCanada is very, very tough. We love Canada,â he said. âWe think of the beautiful song, the ice hockey games. O Canada, isnât 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 theyâre very tough.â
âTheyâre not at all nice about that situation, but weâve made them nice. Weâve made them nice and theyâre not happy about what happened.â
Trump went on to declare that U.S. farmers would be able to sell their goods to Canada under the new agreement, which âthey were restricted from doing.â
, 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 Canadaâs market for poultry, eggs, and dairy products.
Itâs not the first time Trump has remarked on Canadaâs negotiating style during the talks. In September, the president accused Canada of treating the U.S. âvery badly.â Earlier that year, Trump said Canada was âvery difficult to deal withâ and âvery spoiledâ during ongoing North America free trade negotiations.
Trump begins speaking about Canada at the 1:45:00 mark of the video below.