North Korean leader Kim Jong Un isn’t the only one exchanging letters with President Trump. And by all appearances, the handwritten messages Trump sent Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the first year of his presidency were far less cordial.
The leaders of the two neighboring North American countries exchanged at least three passive-aggressive letters in 2017, according to Axios.
In one of the diplomatic messages sent to Trudeau, Trump tore out the cover of a May 2017 issue of Bloomberg Businessweek that featured a photo of the Canadian leader and the headline, “The Anti-Trump.” Written on the cut-out in silver sharpie was a message that said, “Looking good! Hope it’s not true!”
From April 2017: Is Justin Trudeau the anti-Trump?
Here’s the cover @axios reports the president sent to Canada’s prime minister https://t.co/UgofGBwyRw pic.twitter.com/C8RAlNc696
— Businessweek (@BW) August 12, 2019
Follow-up notes touched on a war-of-words over trade, in which Trump publicly asserted the U.S. had a trade deficit with Canada.
In December 2017, Trump sent Trudeau a document that made the case that the U.S. was being taken advantage of by its neighbor to the north and a sharpie-written note that said something akin to, “Not good!!”
A few weeks later, Trump received a handwritten letter from Trudeau. “Dear Donald,” the first page began. “It’s been a busy year! Enjoy the Christmas holidays — you deserve it.”
The letter took on a sour note as Trudeau referred to a speech Trump gave in Florida in which he railed about there being a trade deficit. “One thing,” the prime minister wrote. “You gave a great speech in Pensacola, but you were slightly off on the balance of trade with Canada. USTR says so! All the best for 2018, Justin.”
On the second page, Trudeau enclosed a printout of from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative website that stated, “the U.S. goods and services trade surplus with Canada was $12.5 billion in 2016,” along with a smiley face.
