President Donald Trump left America’s closest allies dismayed Sunday after he yanked the U.S. endorsement of a Group of Seven economic agreement and then unleashed a Twitter attack – echoed by further harsh criticisms from his White House advisers – on Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
“There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door and that’s what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did. And that comes right from Air Force One,” White House Director of Trade Policy Peter Navarro said.
Trump’s actions deepened the divide between the United States and its allies, and European leaders Sunday expressed shock and resignation at this latest sign that the president is eager to defy diplomatic norms and blow up trade relationships that have been strong for decades.
The dustup began shortly after Trump left the G7 summit, where the world leaders had reached a tentative agreement on a joint statement. While Trump was departing Canada, Trudeau held a press conference in which he said that Canada will not be “pushed around” by the U.S. and called Trump’s tariffs “unjust.”
Trump took umbrage at those comments. Traveling on Air Force One to Singapore for the historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, Trump charged Trudeau with “false statements” and accused him of being “dishonest” and “weak.”
Navarro called Canada’s high tariffs on American dairy products, and planned retaliatory tariffs, an “attack on our political system.”
“And as far as this retaliation goes, the American press needs to do a much better job of what the Canadians are getting ready to do because it’s nothing short of an attack on our political system and it’s nothing short of Canada trying to raise its high protectionist barriers even higher on things like maple syrup and other goods,” Navarro said.
Peter Navarro, Trump’s top trade adviser, denounced Trudeau with language rarely used even against America’s adversaries.
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