WASHINGTON—Expressing more irritation with Canadian dairy policy, U.S. President Donald Trump says he might first try to negotiate a trade deal with Mexico and then deal separately with Canada “at a later time.”

“We’ve had very good sessions with Mexico, and with the new president of Mexico, who won overwhelmingly,” Trump said at a Wednesday cabinet meeting, referring to Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, the left-wing populist who was elected in early July and takes office in December. “And we’re doing very well on our trade agreement. So we’ll see what happens. We may do separately with Mexico and we’ll negotiate with Canada at a later time.”

Trump’s musings about separating the three-country North American Free Trade Agreement into two separate deals are not new. Trump has long said that he prefers two-country agreements to multi-country agreements, and he has repeatedly floated the idea of splitting up NAFTA.

But this was the first time he had suggested he might want to negotiate with Mexico first and Canada second.

Trump press secretary Sarah Sanders said later Wednesday that the administration continues to engage in three-country NAFTA negotiations while also dealing directly with Mexico.

“We’re continuing both of those tracks. We see a lot of progress on the conversations with Mexico. And if we can make a bilateral deal with them we’re certainly very happy to do that, but again we’re continuing both conversations, both tracks,” Sanders said.

The Canadian government reiterated its preference for a three-country NAFTA.

“NAFTA is a trilateral agreement that has set a productive framework for trade and investment in North America for the past 24 years. We remain focused on modernizing and improving this agreement in way that benefits the middle class in all three countries,” said Adam Austen, spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland. “There have been regular bilateral engagements between the three NAFTA countries in the context of these trilateral negotiations and we expect that to continue.

The Mexican government has also said it wants to preserve a three-country NAFTA. While Lopez Obrador has not expressed a preference since his election, one of his advisers told Bloomberg in June, “We are not really looking for a bilateral agreement with the U.S. or Canada. The trilateral agreement is what we want.”

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Trump’s comments may reflect his frustration with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whom he has criticized in the last two months over Trudeau’s criticism of his tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum. He has also complained about Canada’s stances at the NAFTA negotiating table, in March calling Canada “brutal” and “really tough.”

Mexico’s economy minister, Ildefonso Guajardo, said Wednesday that the three countries hope to finalize a NAFTA agreement by the end of November, Reuters reported.

The three countries have repeatedly blown through their self-imposed target dates. Talks appear to have stalled in recent weeks after a spring push to come to some sort of agreement in principle. But Guajardo has said there will likely be another meeting in Washington in late July.

Asked about Mexico earlier on Wednesday, Trump’s chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, said at a conference: “Without specifics, I can report good progress on Mexico. That could be a very promising avenue.”

He did not mention progress with Canada. Earlier in Kudlow’s appearance, he repeated his criticism of the June news conference at which Trudeau criticized Trump’s tariffs, saying it was a news conference “Trudeau never should have given.”

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At his cabinet meeting, Trump said he was standing up for U.S. farmers.

“One of the examples is Canada, they charge us on dairy products 275 per cent tariff — 275 per cent. It’s just not appropriate, it’s not fair,” he said.

Trump insisted again that the U.S. has a trade deficit with Canada, although his own government’s data showed a U.S. surplus of $8.4 billion (U.S.) last year. Canadian data, calculated differently, showed a U.S. deficit.

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