President Donald Trump called Justin Trudeau “two-faced” Wednesday after video emerged of the Canadian prime minister apparently gossiping and joking about Trump with other world leaders at a NATO event a day earlier.
“He’s two-faced,” Trump said. “Honestly with Trudeau, he’s a nice guy.”
In the video footage recorded during a reception in London at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday evening, Trudeau was seen standing in a huddle with French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Britain’s Princess Anne, daughter of Queen Elizabeth II.
After Johnson asked Macron, “Is that why you were late?” Trudeau could be heard saying “he was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top." That appeared to be a reference to Trump’s long and unscheduled question-and-answer session with journalists earlier Tuesday.
Trudeau also said: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
Trump wasn’t mentioned by name during the exchange.
Footage of the palace reception was recorded by a pool camera. The clip was posted online by Canadian broadcaster CBC and has been viewed more than 5 million times.
Canadian officials didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Trudeau spoke briefly to Trump as NATO leaders gathered for a summit Wednesday in Watford, outside London, and the two men shook hands.
Leaders of the 29 NATO states are marking the 70th anniversary of the military alliance — and trying to patch up differences over defense spending, the alliance’s strategic direction and member nation Turkey’s military action in northern Syria.
Testy exchanges
The summit’s leaders played down their differences Wednesday and insisted that they remain united over security issues and determined to defend each other despite a series of spats between the presidents of some of the alliance’s biggest member countries.
Before the conference, Macron had lamented the “brain death” of NATO due in part to what he called a lack of U.S. leadership. Trump branded his remarks as “very disrespectful.” Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan suggested that Macron himself is “brain dead.”
The infighting is mostly due to Turkey’s invasion of northern Syria. Macron has complained that Trump pulled U.S. troops out of the region without warning his NATO allies. Turkey saw the move as a greenlight to send its troops in.
The first day of meetings was dominated by the fissures in the Trump-Macron relationship. Before they met on the sidelines of the summit, Trump laced into the French president for what he called “very, very nasty” comments to The Economist about NATO's health with Trump leading its most important member.
»PREVIOUS COVERAGE: NATO summit kicks off with war of words
Macron didn't back down when they appeared later in the day, and he renewed his own criticism of Trump for withdrawing U.S. forces from Syria.
That decision by Trump, made without consulting France or other NATO allies, gave Turkey an opening to launch operations against the Syrian Kurds.
Ahead of the meeting, Erdogan said he would oppose a NATO plan to defend the Baltic region if the alliance does not back Turkey in its fight against Kurdish groups it considers terrorists.
“I’m sorry to say we don’t have the same definition of terrorism around the table,” Macron said in a swipe at Turkey.
Trump showed more deference to Erdogan, saying Turkey was “very helpful” during the October U.S. commando raid that led to the death of IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi near the Syria-Turkey border.
“We flew over areas that were totally controlled by Turkey and Turkish military,” Trump said. "We didn’t tell them what we were doing or where we were going. Turkey could not have been nicer, could not have been more supportive.”
Credit: Evan Vucci
Credit: Evan Vucci
At another point in their extended comments before the news media, Trump and Macron had a curt exchange about the repatriation of Islamic State fighters who are European citizens and were captured in Syria and Iraq in recent years. Trump has pressed unsuccessfully for European nations to accept fighters captured by U.S. forces.
“Would you like some nice ISIS fighters? I can give them to you,” Trump said. “You can take every one you want.”
“Let’s be serious,” Macron responded. “Your No. 1 problem are not the foreign fighters.''
Trump retorted, “'That's one of the greatest non-answers I've ever heard. And, that's OK.”
After such exchanges, however, Trump gave Macron, along with Italy's prime minister, a ride in his armored limo from the reception at Buckingham Palace to the gathering hosted by Johnson.
Donald Trump meets with Recep Tayyip Erdogan
Trump sat down with Erdogan as European leaders, led by Macron, are pushing the alliance to get tougher on Turkey after its October invasion of Syria and its purchase of Russian surface-to-air missiles.
Credit: Peter Nicholls
Credit: Peter Nicholls
Trump has resisted some of those efforts to pressure Erdogan — a point of tension exposed during feisty exchanges with the French leader on Tuesday. The White House, which confirmed the meeting after Erdogan’s office posted a photo of the two leaders on social media, said the pair discussed "the importance of Turkey fulfilling its alliance commitments" as well as security and economic issues.
Trump also planned meetings with German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on the sidelines of the NATO leaders’ meeting.
But Trump canceled his final news conference at the conclusion of the summit “because we did so many over the past two days,” CBS News reported.
About the Author
