White House Director of Legislative Affairs Marc Short split with President Trump’s trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday by saying he would not have criticized Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau so harshly, and that Navarro’s comment do not reflect the White House position.
“Those are words that I would not have chosen,” Short said during an interview on CNN.
Short was addressing comments made by Navarro on Sunday after Trump and Trudeau traded barbs following the G-7 summit in Quebec. After Trudeau said he would not be “pushed around” by Trump, Trump tweeted that Trudeau acted “meek and mild” during G-7 meetings and was “very dishonest and weak” in his public remarks.
When asked about Trump’s tweet, Navarro told “Fox News Sunday” that “there’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad-faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door.”
“And that’s what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That’s what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did, and that comes right from Air Force One,” Navarro said.
Short said he believes there was “offense taken” and “frustration” from Trump given that Trudeau “chose to take the podium to condemn the actions of the United States” after the president left Quebec for his summit with Kim.
“The judgment day that separates us from heaven and hell is not dependent upon whether you agree with the president or not, so I don’t think it’s the official position,” Short said. “Having said that, I think we are still concerned about the tariffs and barriers that Canada has put on American goods and services, and the president stood up to for that.”
