WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump boasted again on Tuesday of successfully threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau into NAFTA concessions, claiming that Canada wasn’t “nice” to the U.S. on trade until he intervened and “made them nice.”Trump made the comments at a Republican dinner in Washington. He seemed to believe his rambling speech was private, musing at one point about the possibility that it would “leak.” In fact, it was being filmed by the media.“Canada’s very, very tough. You know, we love Canada. We think of the beautiful song and the ice hockey games. O Canada, isn’t 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’re very tough, and they’re not at all nice about that situation. But we’ve made them nice. We’ve made them nice,” he said.“And they’re not happy about what happened, but our farmers are gonna be able to sell now into Canada, which they were restricted from doing.”Canada was the number-one export market for U.S. farmers in 2017, according to data from Trump’s own administration, purchasing $20.5 billion worth of American products. Trump seemed to be referring to Canada’s protected dairy market, which he pressured Trudeau into opening slightly to U.S. farmers.Trump has delivered various trade-related jabs at Canada during his presidency, though his rhetoric has warmed since the two countries and Mexico agreed on a new NAFTA deal. Trump previously called Canada “brutal” and “very spoiled.”In remarks obtained by the Star last year, during the negotiations, Trump told reporters “off the record” that he was pressuring Trudeau into NAFTA concessions by displaying a photo of the Oshawa-made Chevrolet Impala, a threat to impose tariffs on imported Canadian cars. The story changed slightly in his Tuesday re ...
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