President Donald Trump has injected ongoing trade negotiations involving the U.S., Canada, and Mexico with his trademark volatility… again. Friday, the Toronto Star shared off the record jabs at Canada he made to Bloomberg News reporters who’d interviewed him this past week, and on Twitter, he’s now basically confirmed those remarks.
On Twitter, he said:
‘Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it. At least Canada knows where I stand!’
Originally, when Bloomberg asked him about willingness to make concessions to Canada in the ongoing back and forth over the future of the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), Trump said:
‘Here’s the problem. If I say no — the answer’s no. If I say no, then you’re going to put that, and it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal… I can’t kill these people.’
At the time, he added that any trade deal involving the U.S. and Canada would be made “totally on our terms.”
The comments surfaced days after the U.S. and Mexico announced their own preliminary agreement for the future of NAFTA, including changes like a requirement for a greater share of automobile production to be based locally in North America. Canada has yet to join in on any agreement.
Friday, Canadian and U.S. officials met to continue to try and work out a future for Canada in the midst of the trade turmoil, and according to the Toronto Star, the Canadians raised the issue of Trump’s comments during the meeting. Who can expect Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to be anxious to get on board with a plan explicitly set against his country?
Although the Star initially couldn’t independently confirm that Trump had made the alleged comments, the Canadian government treated them as fact — and the president’s now confirmed as much, although he bungled his words again in the process.
He claimed that the incident is an example of “dishonest reporting” — and that an off the record agreement involving his comments was violated. That description of the situation doesn’t work, though. He’s wrong if he’s suggesting that the reporters he originally spoke to were dishonest because his comments got out after all, because they weren’t the ones who published the piece in the Star. They — initially at least — wouldn’t confirm or deny the validity of the report.
If he’s suggesting that the report is itself “fake news” — well that just makes no sense, although he’s made similar claims in the past, asserting reporting on something he himself said was fake news. He can’t admit to something and it be fake news.
The tweet is part of his ongoing assault on standards of decency from all fronts. On the one hand, he continues his attacks on the media, claiming the vast majority of the mainstream media to be the enemy of the people.
Additionally, he refuses to respect the United States’ longstanding trade partners, and has left Canada hanging as it’s unclear what the exact future of North American trade will be.
Check out Twitter’s response below.
Featured Image via YouTube screenshot
