OTTAWA—U.S. President Donald Trump unloaded on Canada from the Oval Office Thursday, suggesting that the country was “taking advantage” of U.S. workers and demanding trade renegotiations begin “very quickly.”

Trump denounced the North American Free Trade Agreement as a “disaster” and said he wants Canada to move on three industries in particular: dairy farming, lumber and energy.

“The fact is, NAFTA — whether it’s Mexico or Canada — is a disaster for our country,” Trump said.

“We can’t let Canada, or anybody else, take advantage and do what they did to our workers and to our farmers.”

Trump vowed to move “very, very quickly” on negotiations with Canada, saying he would have a more detailed plan in coming weeks.

The president’s comments were short on specifics and it’s unclear how they will translate into action. Trump has used belligerent language on issues like NAFTA, NATO and China in the past, but has often failed to back up those words with significant policy changes.

But they do represent a marked departure from Trump’s warm words for Canada after he met with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Washington in February. Trump said the U.S. enjoys a “very outstanding trade relationship with Canada,” pledging only “tweaks” to that relationship in larger NAFTA renegotiations.

Officials in Ottawa will have to puzzle out how that outstanding relationship turned into a “disaster” in the mercurial president’s mind — and whether Trump will act on his claims.

Ironically, Trump’s comments came only hours after Trudeau praised the president’s willingness to listen to reason.

“As politicians we’re very much trained to say something and stick with it,” Trudeau said in a televised interview with Bloomberg Businessweek.

“(Trump) has shown that if he says one thing and then hears good counter-arguments, or good reasons why he should shift his position, he will take a different position. . . . There’s a challenge in that for electors, but there’s also an opportunity in that for people who engage with him to try and work to achieve a beneficial outcome.”

A request for comment to the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa was not returned Thursday.

Trump’s visit earlier in the week to Wisconsin, home state of Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan, appears to have set off the escalated rhetoric on trade.

In a speech on Tuesday, Trump seemed to criticize Canada for changing regulations related to ultrafiltered milk, occasionally used in cheese and yogurt production. Seventy-five farming families in Wisconsin claim that those changes have put their livelihood at risk.

“And I’ve been reading about it, I’ve been talking about it for a long time, and that demands, really, immediately, fair trade, with all of our trading partners. And that includes Canada,” Trump told the crowd.

“Because in Canada, some very unfair things have happened to our dairy farmers and others.”

Canada?s ambassador to the U.S. says he expects to have constructive trade talks with the Trump administration despite the president questioning Canada?s practices in the dairy industry.

Trump brought the issue up again on Thursday, saying “rules, regulations, different things have changed” and are putting dairy farmers in Wisconsin and New York state.

“What they’ve done to our dairy farm workers is a disgrace. It’s a disgrace,” Trump said.

Trudeau defended Canada’s supply-managed dairy industry on Thursday. Trudeau told Bloomberg that the U.S. enjoys a trade surplus on dairy with Canada, and that the country “wasn’t the challenge” for U.S. dairy farmers.

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“I understand that certain governors are speaking to certain constituencies on that. It’s politics,” Trudeau said.

“Let’s not pretend we’re in a global free market when it comes to agriculture. . . . We have a supply management system that works very well here in Canada. The Americans and other countries choose to subsidize to the tune of hundreds of millions, if not billions of dollars, their agricultural industries including their dairy.”

In an emailed statement Thursday afternoon, Global Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland said the Liberals will “always defend Canada’s interests.”

“We are steadfastly committed to free trade and its benefits for the middle class. Canada buys more from the U.S. than any other country — including the EU, Mexico, China and Japan,” Freeland wrote.

“Any increase of trade barriers between our countries would significantly impact jobs in the United States, as well as in Canada.”

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