Trump Tells Trudeau US Wants Fair Trade Deal or None at All

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - US President Donald Trump has given Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau an ultimatum on trade, saying he would not accept any deal that is not "fair."

"The Unite States has been taken advantage of for many decades on trade. Those days are over," the White House said, citing Trump’s message to Trudeau. "The Unite States will agree to a fair deal, or there will be no deal at all."

Earlier, US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross announced that Washington would impose a 25-percent steel tariff and 10-percent aluminium tariffs on the EU, Canada, and Mexico.

Canadian Foreign Minister Cynthia Freeland announced then that Ottawa would place duties on US steel and aluminium products on July 1 until Washington ends its own restrictions.

In March, the United States introduced the tariff on imported steel and aluminium. A number of countries, including the European Union, were exempted first until May 1 and then for one more month until June 1.

The two countries have been in talks since August 2017 to update the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), a three-way pact that has long been criticized by Trump.

Trudeau said Thursday he invited Trump to a meeting on NAFTA last week, but was contacted by US Vice President Mike Pence who said the summit was contingent on his agreeing to limit the deal to five years, a condition Trudeau rejected as totally unacceptable.