Washington, Jun 10 (EFE).- White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday lambasted Canada for its actions during the G7 Summit, but he downplayed the insults fired at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau by US President Donald Trump.
Kudlow in an interview on CNN accused Trudeau of making comments rejecting US tariffs for “domestic political consumption,” thereby doing “a great disservice to the whole G7.”
“He really kind of stabbed us in the back,” Kudlow said.
Kudlow was referring to Trudeau’s remarks at the end of the summit held by the world’s seven most industrialized nations over the past two days in the Canadian town of La Malbaie in which he warned that Trump’s imposing such tariffs under the guise of national security was “insulting” and he was not going to let Canada “be pushed around.”
Trudeau also said in a “Meet the Press” interview airing Sunday that “The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable.”
Trudeau had said in his news conference Saturday that Canada will “move forward with retaliatory measures” on July 1 in response to Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico.
In similar remarks to Kudlow, Trump trade adviser Peter Navarro on “Fox News Sunday” said “There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with … Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door.”
Navarro added: “And that’s what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did,” reflecting the sentiment on Air Force One, which was taking Trump to Singapore for his high-stakes summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Navarro also said that Trump’s attending the G7 Summit in Canada was a “courtesy” to Trudeau, adding that “He did him a favor.”
“To my friends in Canada, that was one of the worst political miscalculations of the Canadian leader in modern Canadian history,” Navarro added.
After Trump had left the G7 meeting, Trudeau had told reporters that the statement issued by the group was supported by every member, but Trump said on Twitter on Saturday that the US did not back it.
“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique,” Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trudeau “acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, ‘US Tariffs were kind of insulting’ and he ‘will not be pushed around.’ Very dishonest & weak,” wrote Trump in a subsequent tweet.
Kudlow said that Trudeau had harmed the US in the run-up to Trump’s meeting with Kim, stating that “Kim must not see American weakness. … The president of the United States is not gonna let a Canadian prime minister push him around … he is not going to permit any show of weakness on a trip to negotiate with North Korea.”