Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau speaks at a Liberal Party fundraiser in Mississauga, Ont., on Aug. 30 , 2018. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave his firmest defence of Canada’s dairy sector Friday as NAFTA talks were upended in Washington D.C., just hours before Donald Trump’s deadline expires.

Speaking to reporters in Oshawa, Trudeau said Canada will not sacrifice Canada’s supply management system that regulates the production of dairy, eggs and poultry in Canada.

“We will not get rid of supply management,” he said in French.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is set to make an announcement on the state of the NAFTA talks this afternoon at the Canadian embassy in Washington.

The minister is expected to announce that her intense days-long talks with her American counterpart are progressing well, but that they will take a break for the long weekend and resume next week.

CBC News reported Friday afternoon Canadian officials have wrapped up negotiations for the day without a deal. They will resume discussions next week. Negotiators had offered to stay through the weekend.

Throughout Friday, Canadian and American negotiators were showing few signs of budging on their most stubborn NAFTA positions — the day of President Donald Trump’s Friday deadline for a deal.

The prime minister said the United States wants Canada to get rid of its system. Canada, he said, wasn’t prepared to do that.

“I’ve always said I will protect and defend supply management. This is a system that works not only for producers, but consumers in Canada as well,” Trudeau said, adding the Americans subsidize their sector heavily.

The prime minister was responding to a question from a Quebec reporter who asked whether the federal government was prepared to “abandon” the country’s most populous province to secure a deal. About 60 per cent of Quebec’s agriculture sector is falls under Canada’s supply management system.

Earlier Freeland told reporters she will continue to defend Canada’s interests at the negotiating table. following a meeting with her counterpart U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer Friday morning.

“We’re looking for a good deal, not just any deal and we will only agree to a deal that is a good deal for Canada,” Freeland said. “We’re not there yet.”

Asked whether the United States was negotiating in good faith, Freeland skirted the question, saying Lighthizer is working “very hard” as talks continue.

Asked directly about Trump’s remarks and whether the Americans are bargaining in good faith, Freeland walked a diplomatic tightrope.

“Ambassador (Robert) Lighthizer and his team, throughout this negotiation, have been working really, really hard,” she said.

“Our starting positions at the beginning were very far apart. I think, at this point, we know what each side needs and we’re working hard to find a way. My jobs it to find the deal that works for Canada.

“Bob and I joke sometimes that we could switch chairs we know each other’s positions so well. And we’re working hard to find that win-win space.”

Dairy has emerged as a significant sticking point at the NAFTA table, where U.S. officials are demanding its northern neighbour open its market up to American milk products. The U.S. president has repeatedly criticized Canada’s “unfair treatment” of American dairy farmers — even though the United States has a surplus in dairy trade with Canada.

On Friday, U.S. trade officials said Canada had not made concessions on agriculture at the trade table.

The mounting tensions in Washington come after The Toronto Star reported the U.S. president told a Bloomberg reporter in an “off the record” conversation he was not willing to make compromises in the trade talks with Canada.

Trump reportedly said Canada is “working their ass off,” the Star reported. “And every time we have a problem with a point, I just put up a picture of a Chevrolet Impala,” Trump said, according to the news outlet. General Motors makes the Impala at an auto plan in Oshawa – the same community Trudeau visited Friday.

Later Trump tweeted an admission had made the remark: “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!”

Meanwhile, in Quebec, the leaders of that province’s main political parties urged the Trudeau government to defend supply management.

Three of the four party leaders rejigged their election campaign schedules to be at an announcement at the Montreal-area headquarters of the Union des producteurs agricoles, which represents the province’s farmers.

Liberal Leader Philippe Couillard, Parti Quebecois Leader Jean-Francois Lisee, Quebec solidaire co-spokesperon Manon Masse and a representative for the Coalition Avenir Quebec were present today in Longueuil.

Coalition Leader Francois Legault’s campaign was in the Saguenay region and he couldn’t attend in person, but he said earlier he was in solidarity with his fellow party leaders.

Couillard said he would reject any trade agreement not accepted by the province’s dairy producers.

Their joint news conference was held as federal government negotiators and their U.S. counterparts met in Washington, D.C. to try to hammer out a new North American Free Trade Agreement.

With files from Canadian Press