NAFTA BOMBSHELL: The Star has obtained inflammatory secret comments about Canada that Trump made "off the record" yesterday, and they have upended the talks this morning: thestar.com/news/world/201…
Trump told Bloomberg he isn't compromising at all with Canada but can't say this publicly since it'd ruin the talks: “Here's the problem...The answer’s no. If I say no, then you’re going to put that, and it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal."
Trump also said off the record that any deal would be “totally on our terms.”
Trump said he is scaring Canada into submission by repeatedly threatening auto tariffs, showing the Canadians “a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,” which is assembled at the GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
Trump said he is scaring Canada into submission by repeatedly threatening auto tariffs, showing the Canadians “a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,” which is assembled at the GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
What happened: I obtained these quotes. I'm not bound by Bloomberg's "off the record" promises. I asked the White House and the Trudeau team for comment. The Trudeau team, which is certain the quotes are accurate, sprung them on Trump's team at the meeting this morning.
White House hasn't disputed the authenticity of the quotes but suggested I shouldn't publish. Deputy Press Sec Lindsay Walters said, “If this was said, it was said in an off the record capacity. I understand you guys have obtained it; I’m not sure where you’ve obtained it from.”
The Canadian team won't comment on what has happened at this morning's meeting, but the White House has made clear to me that the comments were indeed raised.
The Canadian side was complaining to me about the Trump team showing no flexibility even before I asked them for comment this morning on the Trump quotes. They see the quotes as confirmation of suspicions that the Trump team isn't working to make a win-win deal today.
So...we'll see what happens, but Trump is right that such comments make it harder for the Canadian side to make a deal with him. It's also interesting to me that he was concerned enough about the diplomacy here to go off the record - we know he often just says stuff.
Finally, a caveat: we know that Trump brags all the time that he is dominating negotiations, making weak opponents cave to his wishes -- so the U.S. might actually be compromising and Trump was just blustering to impress Bloomberg. But the U.S. might indeed not be compromising.
This is possible but I am doubtful. The White House very much did not want this published.
Trump spokes Walters is now telling me her comments were off the record, which they weren't. This is the official WH comment, which does not deny the Trump quotes: "The Canadian and American negotiators continue to work on reaching a win-win deal that benefits both countries.”
I don't know what is happening in the meeting. Nobody's talking right now. All I know, from both sides, is the Canadian side came in and sprung Trump's quotes on Trump's team. (Which may have already been on alert because I'd asked the WH for comment.)
Meanwhile, the U.S. side says it is Canadian inflexibility on agriculture, by which they probably mean dairy, that is holding up the talks:
This is another interesting angle to Trump’s secret remarks: he *wants* Canada in the deal, enough to be concerned about blowing up the talks with on-record disparagement. He’s publicly professed indifference about Canada’s inclusion.
Here’s Trudeau’s public response to Trump’s revealed remarks, per CBC: cbc.ca/news/politics/… 
As an amateur Trump Vocabologist, I'm confident "I can't kill these people" meant "I can't be too hard on the Canadian government in public by declaring I'm not giving up anything to them."
Here's a fuller version of Trudeau's response to the leaked Trump remarks. By sheer coincidence, Trudeau was in Oshawa, home of the Chevy Impala Trump claims to have wielded a picture of.
