President Trump chided Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for talking negatively about him to other world leaders.
Footage of the Canadian leader talking with French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson about Trump at a reception in Buckingham Palace surfaced on Tuesday. The president was asked about the comments during a joint press conference the next day with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
“Well, he’s two-faced,” Trump stated, “He’s a nice guy. I find him to be a very nice guy. But you know the truth is that I called him out on the fact that he’s not paying 2%, and I guess he’s not very happy about it … he’s not paying 2%, and he should be paying 2%. It’s Canada, they have money, and they should be paying 2%. So I called him out on that, and I’m sure he wasn’t happy about it but that’s the way it is.”
The president was referencing his criticism of several NATO member countries who were not meeting the alliance’s defense spending target of 2% of gross domestic product. He has attacked Canada for failing to reach the marker during his press conference with Trudeau on Tuesday morning.
“He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top,” Trudeau told his fellow world leaders, referencing Trump kicking off the NATO summit in London with joint press conference with Macron. He later said, “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
