TRUMP BLASTS ‘TWO-FACED’ TRUDEAU FOR MOCKING HIM
DONALD Trump stormed out of a Nato summit hosted by Britain yesterday after branding Canada’s Justin Trudeau “two-faced”.
Demonstrating his characteristically erratic approach to diplomacy, the US President took a swipe at the Canadian premier before cancelling a press conference planned for after the summit in order to fly home early.
Mr Trump had earlier bristled when questioned about a video clip that appeared to show Mr Trudeau mocking him during a chat with Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron at a Buckingham Palace reception earlier this week.
“He is two-faced,” said Mr Trump. The US president claimed Mr Trudeau’s jibe was triggered by their falling out over the Canadian government’s failure to hit the Nato target of spending two per cent of national income on defence.
Cancelled
Mr Trump’s sudden departure followed two days of squabbling between world leaders about countries dodging defence budget targets, Turkey’s military action in Syria and security concerns over the influence of Chinese firm Huawei in telecommunications networks.
Boris Johnson’s aides were last night relieved that the president’s visit had concluded with no impact on the General Election campaign.
After days of speculation that the US president could embarrass the Prime Minister, it was Mr Trudeau in Mr Trump’s line of fire.
During impromptu questions from reporters after he held a head-to-head meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Mr Trump said: “The fact is I called him [Trudeau] out on the fact that he is not paying two per cent and I guess he is not very happy about it.”
He then announced he was flying back to Washington without holding his end-of-summit news conference. “I cancelled the news conference. I’ve done so many. I think that’s enough,” he said.
Mr Trudeau avoided escalating the spat during his news conference at the summit.
“The relationship between Canada and the US is deep and goes far beyond the relationship between a prime minister and a president,” he said about the clash, insisting there was a “good and constructive relationship between me and the president”.
Mr Johnson also deflected questions about the row during his news conference.
Declining to mention Mr Trump by name, the Prime Minister said: “I think the US is massively committed to Nato, which has been for 70 years the pillar of stability for our collective security.”
He pointed to the White House’s support in the wake of the nerve agent attack in Salisbury last year.
“If you want evidence of the willingness of the US to stand shoulder to shoulder with us, I would point you back to what happened in the case of the poisonings in Salisbury. Country after country stepped forward to expel Russian diplomats and spies in solidarity with the UK.
“America expelled 60, and that was a fantastic testament to the trans-Atlantic alliance.”
And the PM echoed Mr Trump’s criticism of the Nato member nations that fail to meet the annual defence spending target.
He said: “The UK has long
argued that you can’t be complacent about that, you can’t remotely take that for granted.”
He added: “There was a mood of very great solidarity and determination and a willingness to push Nato forward, not just for the next few years but for the next 70 years, a real belief in the long-standing value of this alliance.”
Turning to the Huawei issue, he hinted that government policy towards allowing the Chinese giant access to the 5G telecommunications could change if he returns to Downing Street after the General Election on December 12.
President Trump had told leaders that the firm’s involvement could be a “security risk”.
Mr Johnson admitted the issue could affect the UK’s participation in the “Five Eyes” intelligence alliance with the US, Australia, New Zealand and Canada.
He said: “On Huawei and 5G, I don’t want this country to be unnecessarily hostile to investment from overseas. On the other hand, we cannot prejudice our vital national security interests nor can we prejudice our ability to co-operate with other five eyes security partners and that will be the key criterion in our decision about Huawei.”
Turning to the row about Turkey’s clashes with Kurdish forces in Syria, the Prime Minister said he recognised the “huge pressures” faced by Turkey in dealing with four million refugees from the conflict in Syria as well as the “terrorist threat” from the Kurdish PKK in
Turkey. He went on: “What we were all trying to do is understand Turkey’s plans for that stretch of northern Syria, what they want to do, how they see the future there and the way forward.
“What we want to do is avoid any misunderstandings between allies within Nato about Turkey’s intentions and how that situation will develop.”