Trump criticises media after off-the-record comment leaked

The United States president Donald Trump on Friday lashed out at media for "dishonest reporting" after off-the-record comments concerning North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) were leaked.

Trump took to Twitter to say, "Wow, I made OFF THE RECORD COMMENTS to Bloomberg concerning Canada, and this powerful understanding was BLATANTLY VIOLATED. Oh well, just more dishonest reporting. I am used to it. At least Canada knows where I stand!"

According to a Fox News report, "The Toronto Star reports that it obtained comments from an off-the-record portion of an Oval Office interview between Trump and Bloomberg News. In those remarks, Trump said he isn't making compromises with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government but isn't going to say so publicly because 'it's going to be so insulting they're not going to be able to make a deal'."

Fox News further quoted Trump citing the Toronto Star as saying, "Here's the problem. If I say no, the answer's no. If I say no, then you're going to put that, and it's going to be so insulting they're not going to be able to make a deal ... I can't kill these people."

Meanwhile, Trump is trying to negotiate a new NAFTA with both trading partners.

Earlier this week, he announced that he has secured a tentative deal with Mexico and said "we'll see" if Canada can be part of the new agreement. The deadline for the deal with Canada is set for Friday by the administration.

Last month, Trump had announced that he would be "terminating" the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and would rename the new treaty as the "United States-Mexico Trade Agreement."

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto, meanwhile, lauded the new deal and expressed hope that Canada would be a part of the trade treaty in the near future.

Trump said that he would soon be making a telephonic call to his Canadian counterpart Justin Trudeau while also threatening to impose tariffs on Canadian auto imports.

Calling the new trade deal as 'incredible' and 'elegant', the US President underlined that both Washington and Mexico have reached an "understanding".

Trump has been deriding the NAFTA, claiming it was the "worst ever deal" and hurt the interests of the American manufacturers. Negotiations on the deal began about a year ago.

The revised NAFTA deal is set to impact the intellectual property of the US and the trade exports between US and Mexico among other trade policies.