With a trade deadline looming, Canada’s top trade negotiator Chrystia Freeland said Friday that a deal has not yet been reached to revamp the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the United States and Canada. The two economic superpowers have yet to reach an agreement after another round of negotiations.
“We’re looking for a good deal, not just any deal. We will only agree to a deal that is a good deal for Canada. We’re not there yet,” Freeland told reporters.
Freeland’s comments come after a report surfaced from the Toronto Star that U.S. President Donald Trump said in private that he would not make any concessions with Canada. In remarks to Bloomberg News reporters, Trump said that he would not reveal his positions publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.”
President Trump’s administration has given Canada until today to iron out its trade differences and join the new trade agreement struck between the U.S. and Mexico earlier in the week. Things were looking on the up-and-up when Freeland said earlier in the week that ongoing talks with the U.S. remain “constructive” despite the threat of punitive tariffs on Canadian-made cars if Canada spurns the prospect of a new NAFTA deal by today.