Canada to Trump: Scrap tariffs, or no NAFTA deal - CTV News

QUEBEC -- The Trudeau government has told U.S. President Donald Trump he needs to get rid of the punishing U.S. tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum if there is any hope of successfully renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Finance Minister Bill Morneau said that message was communicated clearly to Trump during his meetings at the G7 leaders' summit, which is wrapping up Saturday.

Trudeau said he told Trump directly that Canadians "particularly did not take lightly the fact that it's based on a national security reason" and held firm to the government's threat of retaliation.

"Canadians are polite, we're reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around."

But Trump appeared to take Trudeau's criticism personally, and denounced the prime minister hours after he departed the G7 summit on Saturday.

"Based on Justin's false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!," the president wrote on Twitter.

Trump then called Trudeau "Very dishonest & weak" in a follow-up tweet.

It was not immediately clear where the new round of aggression would leave the two leaders and their mercurial attempts to find trade peace.

Earlier while still in Quebec, Trump said he wants to make a deal on NAFTA, and he's open to working with the current pact or striking separate agreements with Canada and Mexico -- as long as they agree to renegotiate every five years.

Canada wants a deal too, but Trudeau reiterated the government view that the U.S.'s proposed five-year sunset clause is a non-starter.

Canada is now adding the tariffs to its list of deal breakers on NAFTA. Morneau said progress is being made, but more work needs to be done to conclude the negotiations.

"We're not going to be able to do that work under the threat of tariffs. And we're not going to be able to do that work when our retaliatory tariffs, which are real, they're significant," Morneau said in a Saturday interview.

The government announced it would impose more than $16.6-billion in retaliatory tariffs, effective July 1, on a variety of U.S. goods. Mexico and the European Union have also planned retaliatory tariff packages.

Trump said that would be a bad idea.

"If they retaliate, they're making a mistake," he said.

"They do so much more business with us than we do with them ... the numbers are so astronomically against them … we win that war a thousand times out of a thousand."

Trudeau said Canada wasn't backing down.

"I highlighted that it was not helping in our renegotiation of NAFTA and that it would be with regret, but it would be with absolute certainty and firmness that we move forward with retaliatory measures on July 1."

Trudeau and the other G7 leaders used their meeting to try to persuade Trump to abandon the tariffs, which affect all of America's G7 allies. - Read More

Canada to Trump: Scrap tariffs, or no NAFTA deal | CTV News

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