After failing to reach a new North American Free Trade Agreement by a deadline last Friday, both Canada and the United States resumed talks this week. However, President Trump name dropped a particular vehicle as ammunition in a high-profile meeting last Friday.
Speaking to Bloomberg off the record, Canadian publication The Star obtained and published comments the president made during discussions with Canadian officials. President Trump said, “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.”
The president seemingly used the Chevrolet Impala as ammunition in talks with Canadian leaders as the threat of tariffs on Canadian-made cars looms. The U.S. and Mexico have reached a tentative bilateral agreement, but Canada has yet to agree to any new NAFTA.
General Motors builds the Chevrolet Impala at the Oshawa, Ontario, production facility alongside the Cadillac XTS, and the last-generation pickup truck, the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra. On the idea of tariffs, surely a tax on pickups coming into the U.S. from Canada would do more harm than the Impala; GM also builds the Impala at the Detroit-Hamtramck plant.
More controversy surrounded President Trump’s comments as he suggested any Canadian deal would be reached on “our terms” as he continued to scare the nation with the idea of tariffs on cars. His off the record request came as he said, “it’s going to be so insulting [Canada is] 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,” President Trump said of the Canadian government.
Bloomberg honored the president’s request to keep his comments off the record, but The Star obtained the conversation from its own source. President Trump corroborated the discussion in a tweet confirming his comments.
Comments
Impala sales are so low why do you need to build it two plants. Move all production to Detroit Hamtramck.
He has it all wrong! GM assembly in other nations actually help the U.S. economy because the cost of assembly per car is much less than the cost of the parts and the profits that GM brings into the U.S. economy. That is what the foreign plants are doing in the U.S.! They make money by assembling their models on U.S. territory and sell them here, but the profits all exit the local economy.
He stupidly believes that keeping any auto assembly jobs in the U.S is the solution, but it isn’t. He doesn’t even believe what he “preaches” since he has foreign plants making his brand of clothes, and he makes the profits. If he REALLY wants to help the U.S. economy, he should tax ALL the imports even those assembled in the U.S. instead. But being such a blockhead as he is, he will never do it and just keeps his rich friends richer, and damage the domestic auto business more. If he gets his way, the U.S. auto business will disappear and everyone will be buying a foreign brand!
and Trump has Golf courses and Trump Towers around the globe. Why not bring all those “home”?
Besides, nobody should believe that the move an assembly from low wage Mexico to USA would employ the same number of people in the US — lots of manual labor would be replaced by a higher degree of automation and robotization.
And finally: moving the plants from Mexico to the USA might push the automobile giants to install them in the US South, and thus pushing for building unions in the old slavocracy states — the biggest horror for Trump and his followers.
So you can export a round of golf? Suddenly now it all makes sense.
You know what he meant smart guy.
it is fully understood you can not bring it all back. But it is also understood you can make better deals that benefit more Americans vs. what we have had.
Look at the deal with Mexico it is as much about preventing China from dumping cheap products on the North American market as much as anything else. They know Tariffs only go so far so they made the agreement to prevent Cheap Chinese imports or them building plants in Mexico with $8 jobs that help no one.
The American Economy can not discount their way to prosperity and they can not over pay to prosperity. It is a fine balance of paying a little more but also you have to create the jobs that will pay to make up the difference.
If not balanced inflation goes nuts and or the jobs go else where.
We are not all going to become millionaires and be able to shop at Wal-Mart working service jobs. You have to grow the economy.
Too many past leaders wanted to keep Americans reliant on the government because that is the only way some politicians can keep control.
The fact is many on the left want to keep Americans slaves to the government. They want your money and your reliance.
The greatest time for our economy was during the post WW2 years where we saw great economic growth. Even today the legacy is the folks begging for money even have cell phones and cars. Most countries they can not even feed themselves.
But even the greatest time does never last for ever.
The times, they are a-changing, as the song goes. And it can’t be rolled back.
Free trade all the way. Isolationism sucks. We are going to feel the pain.
Most Impala’s have historically come from Oshawa, especially the 2000-present model. Drop Detroit production, consolidate this and LaCrosse production solely back to Oshawa. (XTS is dropped, making CT6 the sole big Caddy.) Make Hamtramck a Cadillac plant.
I would encourage people to read about the conversation Trump had with veterans about Apocalypse Now or the transcript of the recent conversation between Trump and Bob Woodward. This man has the intellectual capacity of a Mars bar!
Putin’s puppet is just trying to cloud the waters at this point, and will say anything that people will listen to. It’s all garbage.
No problem , we are going to charge a 25% tariff on any vehicle manufactured in the USA and from any of it’s foreign manufacturers . Trump killed NAFTA , we will made sure it is given a proper burial !
And the Hog hath spoken . How is Harley doing in the USA ..drop that on Trump..
Go get em’ trump! Screw the haters!
Trump is the hater…
The Fart of the Orange Seal
Oh look the twitter champ pretending to know or care about anything other than himself… he has lost all credibility, well its not like he ever had it to begin with take a walk clown.