Trump says Canada ‘wants to make a deal very badly’

U.S. President Donald Trump says Canada wants to reach a deal with the United States “very badly” and suggested an agreement could come “fairly soon” if Ottawa addresses his concerns about agricultural trade.

Trump made the comments Saturday in Ireland, where he was asked whether he was considering withdrawing from the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement.

“No, we’re doing great. We’re gonna have a great relationship with Mexico,” Trump said.

He then turned his attention to Canada, saying the two countries have a good relationship while repeating his criticism of the trading relationship.

“We actually have a good one with Canada, but the United States has been ripped off for 50 years by Canada,” Trump said.

“We don’t need their product and they need our product. They do all of their business almost with us and we do very little with them.”

The Office of the United States Trade Representative says Canada is consistently one of the top trading partners for the U.S.

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Trump said Canada “wants to make a deal very badly,” but suggested he does not believe Ottawa is ready yet.

The U.S. president then compared Canada’s desire to reach a deal with those of Iran.

“I hope Canada appreciates being in the same sentence with Iran,” Trump said. “It’s very interesting — Canada and Iran.”

“Canada wants to make a deal and Iran wants to make a deal. At the right time, both of those things could happen.”

Trump said agricultural trade remains among his concerns, repeating his criticism of Canadian tariffs on some U.S. agricultural products.

“Canada has to treat our farmers better and they can’t charge our farmers tariffs,” he said.

“When those things go away, and they’re willing to get rid of all of them, you’ll probably see a deal with Canada fairly soon.”

Trump’s comments came during a weekend visit to Ireland, where he also weighed in on the politically sensitive question of Irish reunification.

Speaking alongside Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin in Dublin, Trump said he would “love to see” the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland unified.

“I don’t want to cause any problems, but I’d love to see it unified,” Trump said. “It’s going to happen eventually. It may as well happen now.”

– With files from The Canadian Press and Reuters