President Trump made an inaccurate historical reference to the War of 1812 during a phone call with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau last month when they were discussing tariffs imposed on Canada by the Trump administration.
Trudeau asked Trump how he could justify tariffs as a national security issues, and in response Trump said, “Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” referring to the War of 1812, sources familiar with the conversation told CNN.
[Related: Canada hits back at U.S. with threat of $12.8 billion in tariffs]
British troops burned down the White House during the War of 1812 as a retaliation for the American attack on York, Ontario, which at the time was a British colony but eventually became a Canadian territory.
When asked if the comment by Trump was taken as a joke, a source said, “To the degree one can ever take what is said as a joke,” adding that the tariff impact on Canada and U.S. workers is no laughing matter.
Trudeau has publicly criticized Trump’s claim that tariffs are a measure of national security.
“The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is, quite frankly, insulting and unacceptable,” Trudeau told Meet the Press in an interview aired Sunday.
