White House officials accuse Canadian leader of trying to make Trump look weak
WASHINGTON – White House officials lashed out at the leader of Canada, one of America’s closest allies, with extraordinary ferocity Sunday as they accused him of trying to make President Donald Trump look weak heading into his summit with the leader of North Korea.
Two of Trump’s top economic advisers called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau a backstabber, betrayer and double-crosser who pulled a “sophomoric political stunt” that threatened to embarrass Trump before his much-anticipated meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.
“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,” White House trade adviser Peter Navarro said on “Fox News Sunday.”
The administration’s actions drew rebukes from Democrats and some Republicans, including Sen. Jeff Flake of Arizona, who on Twitter called out his party members after Navarro’s comments: “Fellow Republicans, this is not U.S. President Donald Trump, left, is greeted by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his wife Sophie Gregoire Trudeau outside the Hotel Fairmont Le Manoir on Friday in Quebec, Canada for the G-7 Summit.
who we are. This cannot be our party.”
The White House anger stemmed from Trudeau’s criticism of Trump’s trade policies at a news conference Saturday after the annual Group of 7 summit, which Trudeau hosted at a resort in Charlevoix, Quebec.
Trump left the summit early, and an administration official said the president had joined a lengthy communique from the world leaders.
That night, however, Trump abruptly announced via Twitter that he would not sign the joint statement, calling Trudeau “very dishonest & weak” for his trade criticism.
Navarro sharply criticized
the G-7 final statement, referring to it as “that socialist communique.”
Larry Kudlow, director of the White House National Economic Council, offered a somewhat different account, saying Sunday that Trump agreed with the language in the communique, which Kudlow helped draft. The statement outlined a shared commitment to work on a variety of economic, social, environmental and security issues.
But Trump took offense at Trudeau’s comments, Kudlow said, and pulled out of the communique largely because he wanted to avoid looking weak before his summit with Kim.