WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he rejected a one-on-one meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the trade dispute involving the North American neighbors and renewed his threat to slap tariffs on cars imported from Canada as negotiations drag on.
Trudeau spokeswoman Eleanore Catenaro said in response: “No meeting was requested. We don’t have any comment beyond that.”
In an extraordinary rebuke of America’s northern neighbor, Trump vented his frustration with Canada during a news conference along the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the latest sign of deteriorating relations between two allies who share a border.
“His tariffs are too high and he doesn’t seem to want to move and I’ve told him forget about it,” Trump said of Trudeau. “And frankly, we’re thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada. That’s the mother lode. That’s the big one.”
“We’ve very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada. We don’t like their representative very much,” Trump said in an apparent reference to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Chrystia Freeland, who has been negotiating with US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer.
Canada, the United States’ No. 2 trading partner, was left out when the US and Mexico reached an agreement last month to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement. The US and Canada are under pressure to reach a deal by the end of the month, when Lighthizer must make public the full text of the agreement with Mexico.
But Trump suggested he may go forward with a revamped NAFTA without Canada. The president said it would be called “USM,” for the US and Mexico, instead of “USMC,” and offered blunt criticism of the Canadian team engaged in the talks.
“Canada has a long way to go. I must be honest with you, we’re not getting along at all with their negotiators. We think their negotiators have taken advantage of our country for a long time,” he said.
Any push by Trump to slap a 25 percent tariff on imported autos and auto parts from Canada might help American workers but could also inflate car prices, make US manufacturers less competitive and generate retaliation.
Roughly four in five cars assembled in Canada are exported. The Canadian Automobile Dealers Association has warned that the auto tariffs could affect billions of dollars’ worth of exports and lead to the loss of more than 100,000 jobs across the country.
Relations between the two neighbors have been strained since Trump assailed Trudeau at the G-7 meeting in June, calling him a “weak” and “dishonest” back-stabber. Canadian leaders have objected to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian steel, citing national security.
The trade talks have been deadlocked over issues such as Canada’s high dairy tariffs and US efforts to shield drug companies from generic competition. Trump, during the news conference, reiterated his longstanding grievances against NAFTA and job losses, saying the trade pact had been “great for Canada, great for Mexico, very bad for us.”
The trade agreement, which took effect in 1994, removed most trade barriers between the US, Canada and Mexico, leading to a boost in trade, but it encouraged US automakers and other manufacturers to move south of the border to take advantage of low-wage Mexican labor.
Trump says he rejected meeting with Trudeau over trade fight
Trump says he rejected meeting with Trudeau over trade fight
- "We are very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada" — Trump
- Canadian leaders have objected to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on Canadian steel, citing national security
Trump says Greenland will ‘work out’ after Denmark fails to bridge gap
- Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — which he views as in the US backyard — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro
WASHINGTON, United States: US President Donald Trump held open the possibility Wednesday for a resolution on his designs over Greenland after Denmark’s top diplomat said he failed to change the administration’s mind on wanting to conquer the island.
The foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland, an autonomous territory under Copenhagen’s sovereignty, met at the White House with Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a meeting the visitors had requested to clear up “misunderstandings” after Trump’s bellicose language toward the fellow NATO member.
Trump, speaking after the meeting which he did not attend, for the first time sounded conciliatory on Greenland, acknowledging Denmark’s interests even if he again said he was not ruling out any options.
“I have a very good relationship with Denmark, and we’ll see how it all works out. I think something will work out,” Trump said without explaining further.
He again said Denmark was powerless if Russia or China wanted to occupy Greenland, but added: “There’s everything we can do.”
Danish Foreign Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, speaking after leaving the White House, said a US takeover of Greenland was “absolutely not necessary.”
“We didn’t manage to change the American position. It’s clear that the president has this wish of conquering over Greenland,” Lokke told reporters.
“We therefore still have a fundamental disagreement, but we also agree to disagree.”
He said the issue was “very emotional” for the people of Greenland and Denmark, a steadfast US ally whose troops died alongside Americans in Afghanistan and, controversially, Iraq.
“Ideas that would not respect territorial integrity of the Kingdom of Denmark and the right of self-determination of the Greenlandic people are, of course, totally unacceptable,” Lokke said.
He nonetheless said the tone was “constructive” and said the sides would form a committee that would meet within weeks to see if there was possible headway.
Referring to the British prime minister who trumpeted his diplomacy with Hitler, Lokke said, “I am not a Chamberlain to say “Peace for our time,” but we must seize the opportunities that present themselves.”
Mocking tone
While the talks were underway, the White House posted on X: “Which way, Greenland man?“
The post included a drawing of two dogsleds — one heading toward the White House and a huge US flag, and the other toward Chinese and Russian flags over a lightning-bathed Kremlin and Great Wall of China.
Neither country has claimed Greenland, and Lokke said no Chinese ship had been spotted there in a decade and that there were no major Chinese investments.
Denmark promised ahead of the meeting to ramp up its military presence further in the vast, sparsely populated and strategically located island.
Trump has derided recent Danish efforts to increase security for Greenland as amounting to “two dogsleds.” Denmark says it has invested almost $14 billion in Arctic security.
Denmark also announced immediate military exercises that will include aircraft, vessels and soldiers, with Sweden also participating.
In another show of solidarity with Denmark following Trump’s threats, Germany and France both said Wednesday they will send troops to Greenland. German’s defense ministry said it would send a 13-person team.
Signs of relief
On the quiet streets of the capital Nuuk, red and white Greenlandic flags flew in shop windows, on apartment balconies, and on cars and buses, in a show of national unity during the talks.
Ivaana Egede Larsen, 43, said she felt relief that the meeting appeared to be cordial.
“I am more calm now, and I feel more safe. I had felt very much unsafe lately,” she said.
In Copenhagen, Thomas Fallesen, 56, voiced similar sentiments.
“They are now at least talking together instead of talking through the press. I think it’s a very positive thing,” he said.
Vance, who slammed Denmark as a “bad ally” during an uninvited visit to Greenland last year, is known for a hard edge, which was on display when he publicly berated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office last February.
Wednesday’s meeting, however, was closed to the press, meaning there was no on-camera confrontation.
Trump has appeared emboldened on Greenland — which he views as in the US backyard — since ordering a deadly January 3 attack in Venezuela that removed president Nicolas Maduro.
