Trump and Trudeau blame each other for spat at G7 summit

It came sandwiched between tweets railing against Canada, Germany, and the European Union over their “unfair” trade with the United States, and accused them of taking advantage of American workers.

President Donald Trump is still angry at Justin Trudeau for a perceived slight during a speech by the Canadian Prime Minister following the G-7 meeting. Trudeau particularly objected to the Trump administration’s decision to cite national security in imposing the tariffs, which the Canadian leader said was “kind of insulting” to Canadians who had fought alongside USA forces in foreign wars.

“We support the continuing efforts by the president on North Korea, (and) we look forward to looking at the details of the agreement”, Trudeau said.

On Sunday, Trump’s aides took to cable news to blast the PM further.

The G7 is made up of seven nations: Canada, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Italy.

“The president is using that as a cudgel in the negotiation process”, he said. “He did a whole disservice to the whole G-7”.

“And that’s what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference”.

Before Trump arrived in Canada for the G7 summit he fired a shot at Trudeau, calling the prime minister “indignant” for holding to Canadian positions on supply management in the dairy industry and trade generally. Hipp then backed the president’s view that Trudeau “pulled a stunt” by standing up to USA tariffs.

Trump says Trudeau “probably didn’t know that Air Force 1 has about 20 televisions”.

Before the apology, some US lawmakers on Tuesday questioned the strong language the White House and Trump have used toward Canada in contrast to the praise he gave North Korea at Tuesday’s summit in Singapore.

Kudlow said on CNN that Trump’s reaction to Trudeau’s comments has been “in large part” because he does not want “any show of weakness” ahead of that meeting. “But here’s the key point, Margaret, [the] president is going to negotiate with Kim of North Korea and Singapore. He can’t do that”. But taking to Twitter, the president has heavily criticized Trudeau and Canada for its tariffs, particularly its 270 percent tariff on dairy.

Trudeau did not seem eager to match Trump’s rancor.

The prospect that Trump could be moving toward an even greater protectionist trade policy is likely to chill financial markets anxious about tit-for-tat escalation that could lead to a full-blown global trade war.

Opposition Leader James Aylward also expressed his support for Trudeau implementing retaliatory trade tariffs on USA goods.

“We’ve had American tariffs that have been put in overnight, Mr. Speaker”. At one point he wrote, “Justin acts hurt when called out!”

Trump’s attacks have Canadian businesses that use aluminum and steel very anxious, said Ontario Conservative MP John Brassard, who added that there is real concern that there will be serious job implications in very short order.

The United States has alienated Canada and other allies by imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, arguing that they pose a threat to USA national security.

Now with Trump piling in with his own attempt to humiliate the Canadian leader, the Globe and Mail newspaper said the U.S. leader’s comments “couldn’t have been better measured to raise Canadians’ national sense of injustice”.

As Canada teeters on the brink of a potential trade war with the United States, the Trudeau government has adopted the same motto invoked by the British as they braced for the Second World War: Keep calm and carry on. One senior Trump adviser told The Atlantic’s Jeffrey Goldberg that the Trump Doctrine could be summarized as “We’re America, Bitch”.