Trump trade chief reveals what led Canada to walk away from ‘best deal in the world’

WASHINGTON, DC: On September 4, US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer said Canada had withdrawn from what he called the "best deal in the world" about two weeks after the two countries appeared close to reaching a final agreement on a new trade deal. He also provided further details about the negotiations that took place before the current trade dispute between Washington and Ottawa.

Greer joined 'Special Report' on Thursday to detail the negotiations that preceded the contentious trade fight between the US and its northern neighbor.

What the US offered Canada in trade talks

"We offered them the best deal. They looked at it square in the face and turned around," he said on 'Special Report.'

Greer's comments came amid a fierce trade war between the US and Canada that Trump further escalated by signing an executive order to rename Lake Ontario as "Lake America."

The trade chief said that although Trump's trade program already gives Canada "the best deal," US officials were willing to negotiate after Canadian authorities approached the administration seeking a revised agreement.

"I told them what we could deliver. I said, 'We could try to give you the best deal in the world on steel, aluminum, autos and help you out on lumber,'" Greer told Fox News.

"These are things very sensitive for the Canadians, and we managed to move the levers of our government to give them that deal."

After Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney reached what Greer described as a handshake agreement, Canadian officials returned to Ottawa, where Greer said something shifted, though he said he remains unsure exactly what happened during those internal discussions.

Why Canada sought more tariff relief

According to Greer, Canadian negotiators came back asking for additional tariff relief beyond what had already been agreed to.

"When they came back, they wanted more, they wanted more tariff relief. It wasn't good enough to have the best deal in the world," he told Fox News chief political anchor Bret Baier.

"They wanted it to be even better… These are things we couldn't accommodate."

Canada suspended trade talks on Aug. 21. US trade officials blamed the breakdown on what they described as "new demands and walk backs of other commitments by Canada" that "upended the careful balance" of the negotiations.

"We were ready to do it. We gave them the best deal in the world. Did it give them everything? No. Did we have everything we wanted? No. That's how a deal works," Greer said.

Greer details Canada's trade practices

"Since even before the second Trump term, they've limited our ability to sell dairy into Canada, and they're importing things from China," he said. "They're turning them into other goods and trying to get them duty-free across our border."

Greer, who believes the Canadians were negotiating in good faith, said he had received some outreach from Canada but no formal negotiations since Aug. 21.