I can't help with the article but his sentence seems to be translated from French, or built like it was. It's much clearer if you can imagine he said it in French.
If he said, or thought "Il n'est pas question de nΓ©gocier...", it translates to "there's no question", but it means there is no possibility, that it's not on the radar, that it won't change. It's an expression that just implies a strong no.
If it's not a BMW, it's gonna be a pickup truck.