Trump's commerce secretary Howard Lutnick unloads on Canada: 'They suck'

'Who? Chrystia Freeland, who's like the worst?' said Lutnick

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OTTAWA — Asked Friday for his thoughts on Canada’s negotiating strategy with the United States, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick didn’t mince words: “Good for them. That’s like the worst strategy I have ever heard. They suck.”

Lutnick appeared to be responding to comments by Steve Verheul, who was Canada’s chief trade negotiator for the Canada-United States-Mexico Agreement during the first Trump administration, who said “in many ways, time is on our side because the pressures on the U.S. are only going to increase over time.”

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Asked at Semafor World Economy about Canada’s former trade chief suggesting time is on Canada’s side in upcoming trade talks, @howardlutnick tells @semaforben:“That is like the worst strategy I’ve ever heard. They suck." pic.twitter.com/4KHODAxUSZ

“We are a $30 trillion economy. We are the consumer of the world. (Prime Minister Mark) Carney has a problem with us. He gets on a plane and he goes to China. Does he think the Chinese economy is going to buy his stuff?” said Lutnick, at the Semafor World Economy summit. “China is an entirely export-driven economy. So what did he do? He came back and said, ‘we’ll take their electric cars.’ Is this nuts?”