Secretary of State Mike Pompeo spoke with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland, amid heightened tensions between the two nations following the G-7 summit last weekend.
The top diplomats discussed renegotiating the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which has sparked a months-long feud between the U.S., Canada, and Mexico after President Trump labeled the deal “unfair” to the United States.
Pompeo and Freeland also spoke about strategies and their “share commitment” to “the complete, verifiable, and irreversible denuclearization” of North Korea, according to a statement from State Department spokesperson Heather Nauert.
This Saturday phone call marks the first official conversation between the two governments since the G-7 Summit where Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exchanged words over recently imposed U.S. tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and members of the European Union.
Trump labeled Trudeau as “dishonest” and “weak” after the prime minister said during a G-7 press conference that Canada would not be “bullied” by the U.S. with the hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum.
While Saturday’s conversation suggest that the U.S. is not backing down from the tariffs, a new poll, released just hours before Pompeo and Freeland spoke, found that more Americans side with Trudeau on the trade relation dispute.
