Trump team calls Trudeau ‘very dishonest and weak’
Also slams Canadian tariffs
QUEBEC — Donald Trump’s top economic adviser is accusing Justin Trudeau of betraying the U.S. administration hours after the president himself launched insults at the prime minister, calling him “very dishonest and weak.”
Trump lashed out at Trudeau after the G7 issued a joint communique on Saturday in which the embattled alliance managed to overcome some differences and find areas of common ground.
Within minutes of the official release of the document, Trump attacked Trudeau on Twitter over what he described as the prime minister’s “false statements” during the closing news conference — and the president said the U.S. would no longer endorse the communique.
Speaking to CNN, Trump adviser Larry Kudlow says he personally negotiated with Trudeau during the two-day G7 summit in Quebec’s Charlevoix region and insists the U.S. agreed to the language in the communique in good faith.
Kudlow says the White House has taken issue with Trudeau’s comments during the news conference that Canada must stand up for itself and that recently imposed U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum are “insulting.”
Kudlow says Trudeau’s actions were a “sophomoric play” and says the prime minister stabbed his U.S. allies in the back.
He insists, like Trump himself has done, that Canada has enormous tariffs itself — especially on certain dairy and food products.
Asked about Trump’s tweets and the future of the G7 late Saturday during a photo op in La Malbaie, Trudeau declined to respond to several questions.
The Prime Minister’s Office did release a statement late Saturday that said: “We are focused on everything we accomplished here at the G7 summit. The prime minister said nothing he hasn’t said before in public and in private.”