Trump's top trade negotiator disputes Canadian assertion that U.S. made last-minute demands

The Trump administration's top trade negotiator downplayed the Canadian assertion that it was last-minute demands from the U.S. that derailed a deal at the 11th hour last week, saying Canadians' concerns about the deal's "implementation" led Ottawa to pull the plug.

In an interview with CBC News on Wednesday, Greer said the Canadian side had new requests when Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc returned from Ottawa after the tentative deal was struck on Aug. 18.

"We had agreed to, as I've shared before in the press, really the best deal available to any country on the planet with respect to Canada," Greer told CBC News chief political correspondent Rosemary Barton in his first one-on-one interview with a Canadian news outlet since the dispute escalated.

"When [he] came back, they had some additional views. They had some additional requests. They had some additional things that that were too much, too much for the United States."

Greer, the trade lawyer in charge of delivering the Trump administration's tariff regime, also disputed Prime Minister Mark Carney's view that the terms would've encroached on Canada's ability to pursue trade agreements with other countries, threatened key industries and undermined French language protections.

He also confirmed he and LeBlanc "don't have open channels" of communication as of Wednesday.

The interview comes after the dispute between Canada and the United States moved into new territory in recent days.

The United States delivered on its threat to impose new tariffs on billions of dollars in Canadian products on Saturday after trade negotiations with Canada fell apart at the 11th hour. Canada plans to match those levies dollar-for-dollar after Labour Day, and is rolling out $7.5 billion in support for workers and businesses at home.

The new measures and deteriorating political rhetoric from both sides of the border were a marked departure from the conciliatory tone last week, when the two countries appeared closer than ever to an agreement after months of tension.

Greer's interview comes a week to the day after he and his Canadian counterpart appeared shoulder-to-shoulder in front of Greer's office, assuring the cameras they effectively only needed to cross T's and dot I's to get the agreement over the finish line. That night, U.S. President Donald Trump granted a tariff extension so negotiators could keep working for three more days.

But by Friday, the deal had fallen apart. Carney said his government walked away from the table after the U.S. team tried to squeeze in last-minute changes that were "unfair, uneconomic and called into question the reliability of any deal."

On Wednesday, Greer said the United States did not want to have a say in Canadian deals.

"I think that characterization goes far beyond anything we've discussed for a year and a half.