Unhappy with NAFTA talks, Trump rejects to meet Canada's Trudeau

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he rejected Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s request for a meeting during the UN General Assembly this week.

The US President said as bilateral North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) talks are going poorly and the United States is unhappy with Canada’s negotiators.

Trump said he would not accept the meeting with Trudeau “because his tariffs are too high, and he doesn’t seem to want to move and I’ve told him, ‘Forget about it and frankly we’re just thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada,’” Trump said. “That’s the motherlode, that’s the big one.”

A spokeswoman for the Canadian prime minister denied that he had requested any such meeting, but Trump’s comments on Wednesday marked a new low in relations between the two leaders.

The attack cast further doubt on the future of the three-nation North American Free Trade Agreement, which underpins $1.2tn in annual trade between Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Trump, who wants major changes to the 1994 treaty, has already concluded a text with Mexico and is threatening to leave out Canada unless it signs up by this Sunday.