Trade Rep. Greer: Canada Has Had the Best Access to the U.S. Market, They Wanted a Deal, We Offered a Better One, But They Decided to Reject It

TRANSCRIPT:

GREER: “On Tuesday evening, we had reached details of the agreement to do exactly what you mentioned. Canada has had the best access to the U.S. market over the past year and a half, even with all the different tariff actions we’ve taken. And they came to us and they wanted to negotiate a deal and we said, fine, we’re happy to do that. And we offered them an even better deal to reduce their tariffs on steel, aluminum, autos, and lumber to the best in the world and we believed we had a deal. They went back to Ottawa. They came back the next day. They took issue with how some of it might be implemented, but ultimately, what seemed like a political decision, they decided to reject this and go in favor of some of the rhetoric you’re seeing now.”