Trump attacks Canada claiming it is treating the U.S. ‘very poorly’

A trade pact between the United States and its neighbors was on the verge of imploding on Friday as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected the terms for an accord set forth by the Trump administration.

Trudeau said he could not accept a five-year sunset clause that Vice President Mike Pence demanded in a phone call to keep the North American Free Trade Agreement alive. The Canadian leader says he called off a trip to the U.S. for talks as a result.

President Trump in a tweet this morning fired back and said that claims that the U.S. has a ‘high surplus on trade’ with Canada are misleading and the ally is treating American farmers ‘very poorly.’

‘Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time. Highly restrictive on Trade! They must open their markets and take down their trade barriers!’ he said. ‘They report a really high surplus on trade with us. Do Timber & Lumber in U.S.?’ 

A trade agreement between the United States and its neighbors was on the verge of imploding on Friday as Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau rejected the terms for an accord set forth by the Trump administration

President Trump in a tweet this morning fired back and said that claims that the U.S. has a ‘high surplus on trade’ with Canada are misleading and the ally is treating American farmers ‘very poorly’

At the White House, the president’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, called the dispute a ‘family quarrel’ that would ultimately be resolved.

‘If you keep the lines of communication open, which everybody wants, this thing can work out,’ he told DailyMail.com during a question and answer session.

Kudlow affirmed that President Trump would attend the G7 next week in Canada. He said that Trump would meet with Trudeau and other heads of government to discuss tariffs.

‘I’m sure there’s gonna be a lot of discussions with all the leaders about these very points,’ he said of the broadside on trade that the president levied on Thursday when he allowed steel and aluminum tariffs to go into effect on Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

Trudeau yesterday said that talks with the U.S. collapsed after a call with Pence in which the VP drew a red line under a five-year sunset for whatever deal is negotiated.

‘I had to highlight that there was no possibility of any Canadian prime minister signing a NAFTA deal that included a five-year sunset clause, and obviously the visit didn’t happen,’ Trudeau said of his planned trip to Washington. 

Trump fired back in a statement that said Trudeau could take his offer or leave it, as far as the U.S. is concerned.

‘The United States has been taken advantage of for many decades on trade. Those days are over. Earlier today, this message was conveyed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada: The United State[s] will agree to a fair deal, or there will be no deal at all,’ Trump said in a statement distribute to press.

Trudeau said Thursday that prior to the phone call with Pence, ‘I thought we were quite close to reaching an agreement.’ As such, he offered to come to Washington to finalize a deal with Trump.

‘We already had the bones of a very good agreement for all parties, and I thought it might be opportune for all of us to sit down for a few hours and discuss it.’

TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT:  Trump said in a statement yesterday, ‘The United State[s] will agree to a fair deal, or there will be no deal at all’

A White House official told DailyMail.com on Friday that Trudeau’s ‘framing of how close we were to a deal just simply isn’t accurate’ and that ‘major issues remained, the sunset clause only being one of them.’ 

The outstanding issues involved agriculture, intellectual property and what the official described as dispute settlement mechanisms.

Trudeau’s blast at Pence put the VP in the hot seat after North Korea also named-checked the second-in-command, who often plays the role of enforcer, as having a role in reigniting hostility between Washington and Pyongyang.

The White House said that Pence and the president, as well U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, were all in agreement on NAFTA and the sunset clause that came up on the Tuesday call with Trudeau.

Canada submitted its latest proposal for a NAFTA rework on May 25. President Trump and Prime Minister Trudeau spoke the same day. 

Trudeau then called Pence to discuss the bid on Monday, May 28, a federal holiday in the United States. The VP returned the call on Tuesday, the person said, and raised the issue of the sunset clause. Pence said the administration wanted clarity on it prior to a meeting with the president.

President Trump on Thursday decided to rip the lid off tariffs he’d been postponing while the U.S. and Mexico negotiated with Canada on a rewrite of NAFTA.

Canada said in response that it would put penalties on $12.8 billion worth of U.S. products that included steel but also everyday products like yogurt and toilet paper.

‘We have to believe that at some point their common sense will prevail. But we see no sign of that in this action today by the U.S. administration,’ Trudeau said of the slap-back.