Oct 23 (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump said on Friday that Canada is working hard to make a trade deal with the United States.
“Canada is working very hard to make a deal with us, and I hate to say this, but we have all the cards,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
A spokesperson for Dominic LeBlanc, Canada’s minister responsible for trade with the US, declined to comment.
The US and Canada have been locked in a trade standoff since talks broke down in August, triggering new tariffs and retaliation on both sides of the border.
The breakdown has widened a rift between the longtime allies, who have blamed each other for the failed talks. The dispute has spurred Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney to urge a further shift away from Canada’s biggest trading partner and cast doubt on the viability of the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Katharine Jackson; Writing by Ryan Patrick Jones in Toronto; editing by Michelle Nichols, Caitlin Webber, Rod Nickel)
