Prospects for a quick trade deal with Canada took a potentially lethal hit Friday morning after the revelation that President Trump said he would not make any concessions to America’s northern ally — remarks he later confirmed to be true.

In remarks that Trump wanted to be “off the record,” the president told Bloomberg reporters Thursday that he won’t make any compromises in the talks with Canada — but that he could not say that publicly because “it’s going to be so insulting they’re not going to be able to make a deal,” The Toronto Star reported, citing a source.

“Here’s the problem. If I say no — the answer’s no. If I say no, then you’re going to [publish] 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,” he said of the Canadian government.

In another remark he did not want published, Trump said that the possible deal with Canada would be “totally on our terms,” and suggested he was pressuring the Canadians into submission by repeatedly threatening to impose tariffs on cars and other goods.

“Off the record, Canada’s working their ass off. And every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,” Trump said, the source told the paper.

The president later Friday essentially confirmed that the quotes were accurate — and slammed the media for reporting them.

“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!” he tweeted Friday afternoon.

The Impala is produced at the General Motors plant in Ontario.

Meanwhile, Bloomberg reported Friday that Team Trump was pushing Canada to give ground on its politically sensitive dairy sector as talks to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement approach the US-imposed deadline of Friday for a tentative deal.

“The negotiations between the United States and Canada are ongoing. There have been no concessions by Canada on agriculture,” a spokesperson for the office of Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer said Friday in an email.

Lighthizer still plans to send a notice to Congress on Friday of Trump’s intention to sign a deal to replace NAFTA, as the administration has previously indicated, a source told the news service.

Trump is stepping up pressure on the Canadians to join a preliminary deal that he reached with Mexico earlier this week.

“Canada’s going to make a deal at some point. It may be by Friday or it may be within a period of time, but ultimately they have no choice,” Trump said Thursday in the interview with Bloomberg as bargainers struggled to resolve critical issues. “I think we’re close to a deal.”

It remains to be seen if the notice Lighthizer sends to Congress only mentions the deal with Mexico, or includes recent progress in talks with Canada.

Lawmakers, including many in Trump’s own Republican Party, say a deal must include Canada to be approved under a legislative tool that allows a simple yes-or-no vote in Congress.