President Donald Trump is a “bad person” and “not to be trusted,” according to a top Canadian politician.
Canada and the U.S. are enduring historically poor relations under the 80-year-old’s administration, which saw Trump threaten 50 percent tariffs on an array of goods, forcing both sides to the negotiating table to hash out a new agreement.
As part of Prime Minister Mark Carney’s bid to secure a deal, he has pressured provincial leaders to end their boycott on U.S. booze, but as they did so, Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew fired off a no-holds-barred takedown of Trump.
“Everybody knows the American president by now, he’s erratic, he’s irresponsible, and he’s not to be trusted,” he said, according to the Associated Press. “And this is the person that we were supposed to make a deal with, and we’re going to make additional concessions for it. That’s why I say you can’t make a good deal with a bad person, because who’s to say it’s not going to be undone?”
Despite his clear lack of love for Trump, Kinew indicated that Manitoba would fall in line behind Carney and would once again allow stores to stock American alcohol.
It came with a caveat, however.
“The prime minister really really recommended, and we decided to put the booze back on the shelf. What I would say to Canadians is ‘leave it there.’ If we put the booze back on the shelves, don’t buy it. Let it sit on the shelf where the liquor mart employees will be putting it and buy the Canadian stuff instead.
“We’ve done an amazing job sticking together in the face of Donald Trump’s tariff threats, and I think we should continue to do that.”
On Thursday, Canada-U.S. trade minister Dominic LeBlanc returned from Washington, where he met with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, and said he thought a trade deal was nearing.
“We’re very close,” he said. “We continue to make progress.”
Trump, meanwhile, has celebrated the deal, saying that what has been worked on so far is “very fair.” It has pushed back $20 billion in tariffs on Canadian goods that were due to start on Wednesday until Saturday.
While several of Canada’s provincial leaders have been outspoken in their support for Carney, Kinew has been bullish.
“I think we should fight,” he said. “I think Donald Trump is very weak. I think America is weaker around the world today than it was a year ago. He’s about to get slaughtered in the midterms and the cost of living is the number one issue and he’s completely out of touch with the cost of living of Americans.
“We’ve got the upper hand. They are back on their heels right now. They are coming to us for a deal right now.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
