Donald Trump doesn't do anything in good faith, much less negotiate complex trade deals. This is why his nonsense earlier this week with regard to "getting rid of NAFTA" and doing a deal with Mexico was bull, and it's why it's likely he leaked his off the record remarks about Canada in order to blow off any hope of negotiating with them.
The Toronto Star reports that Canada walked away from the table after reading remarks which made it obvious Trump was not negotiating in good faith.
In comments Trump wanted to be “off the record,” the U.S. president told Bloomberg News reporters on Thursday that he is not making any compromises at all in the talks with Canada — but that he cannot say this publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal.”
“Here’s the problem. If I say no — 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 ... I can’t kill these people,” Trump said of the Canadian government.
In another remark he did not want published, Trump said that the possible deal with Canada would be “totally on our terms.” He suggested he was scaring the Canadians into submission by repeatedly threatening to impose tariffs.
“Off the record, Canada’s working their ass off. And every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,” Trump said. The Impala is produced at the General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ontario.
Once his comments were published, Canadians wrapped things up, prompting a tweet from Trump filled with fauxtrage:
The thing about Trump? He loooooves talking to reporters. He loves leaking stuff he wants leaked. So I'm willing to bet that the off-the-record sections of that Bloomberg interview were not leaked by anyone other than the shitgibbon himself.
Of course, his ridiculous tweet and the Star's article on what the leak did to negotiations prompted hate:
That's all a distraction, as is Trump's hissy about the "leak." What matters is the tell: He doesn't want to deal with Canada because he hates Trudeau (and I'm sure the feeling is mutual), he is at heart a protectionist who never had any intention of doing any kind of deal, and this is all posturing to pretend to his base that he gives a damn about people he actually loathes.
That's the takeaway. Trump likes playing these games, and he's fine with being outed because he thinks it makes him look powerful. If only he could see the idiot* in the mirror.
(*Google "idiot" and then look at Google images, you'll see what I mean)
