OTTAWA, Sept. 26 (Xinhua) -- Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has never extended an invitation for a meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in New York, according to a report by CTV on Wednesday night.
A spokesperson for Trudeau told CTV News that "no meeting was requested. We don't have any comment beyond that."
Trump said that he turned down a meeting with Trudeau "because his tariffs are too high and he doesn't seem to want to move and I've told him forget about it and frankly we're thinking about just taxing cars coming in from Canada. That's the mother lode, that's the big one."
Trump made the remarks during a news conference in New York earlier on Wednesday, on the sidelines of the United Nations (UN) General Assembly, when he was asked if he had, in fact, snubbed Trudeau. He said, "Yeah, I did."
TV footage shows Trudeau and Trump shook hands briefly during a luncheon for world leaders at the UN headquarters.
Trump also said at the news conference, "If Canada doesn't make a deal with us, we're going to make a much better deal. We're going to tax the cars that come in. We will put billions and billions of dollars into our treasury, and frankly we'll be very happy, because it's actually more money than you can make under any circumstance with making a deal."
Trump's new threat came four days before the U.S.-imposed deadline of Sept. 30 for Canada to provide the U.S. Congress with an updated text of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) deal. The United States and Mexico have already reached a consensus following bilateral negotiations.
Canadian negotiators are still meeting behind closed doors with U.S. counterparts. The two sides have reportedly made progress in recent weeks, but have been unable to settle a few key issues.
Trump cast serious doubts on the negotiations. "We're very unhappy with the negotiations and the negotiating style of Canada. We don't like their representative very much."
"Canada has a long way to go. I must be honest with you, we're not getting along at all with their negotiators," Trump said.
It's unclear exactly which representative Trump was referring to. Canada is represented by a team of NAFTA negotiators led by Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland.
