‘There’s a special place in hell’ for Trudeau for backstabbing Trump, White House trade adviser says
It's open season on Justin Trudeau in the Trump administration, with the White House trade council chief launching an attack on the Canadian PM, saying there is a "special place in hell" for anyone who double-crosses his boss.
Director of the White House National Trade Council Peter Navarro preached against the Canadian Prime Minister during an interview with Fox News Sunday when asked whether US President Donald Trump’s very personal attack on Trudeau was warranted, given that Canada is the second biggest trading partner of the US.
Navarro, who was introduced as the “architect” behind Trump’s plan to slap Canada, Mexico and the EU with tariffs on steel and aluminum, did not hold back his fury, turning the heat up even higher.
"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," Navarro said, echoing the words of Trump’s chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow.
Kudlow faced a massive backlash on social media earlier on Sunday after he accused Trudeau of “stabbing the US in the back” with his promise to retaliate against US tariffs at the final presser.
Navarro, who said his words reflect the general sentiment on Air Force One, where Trump launched his Twitter rant against Trudeau, argued that the Canadian PM acted in “bad faith” with his “stunt press conference.”
“That's what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did,” he said, lashing out at the Canadian PM with exactly the same words Trump used on Saturday evening when he abruptly withdrew his approval for a joint statement of the G7 country leaders while he was already on his way to Singapore.
While Trump’s Twitter outburst has drawn stark criticism from other G7 members, including France and Germany, Trudeau was hailed by European Council President Donald Tusk, who tweeted there should be “a special place in heaven” for the Canadian for his impeccable host skills.
Navarro argued that it’s not Trump who showed bad attitude during the summit, arriving late and leaving early, but Trudeau who is responsible for the diplomatic disaster.
"All Justin Trudeau had to do was take the win. President Trump did the courtesy to Justin Trudeau to travel up to Quebec for that summit. He had other things, bigger things on his plate in Singapore,” Navarro said.
In order to please his Canadian counterpart, Trump was ready to go to such great lengths as to “sign that socialist communique,” Navarro noted, referring to the joint statement that called for “free, fair and mutually beneficial trade.”
But instead, as soon as Trump’s plane departed for Singapore, Trudeau “stabbed our President in the back,” Navarro said. “That will not stand,” he stressed.
Navarro called the threat of a tit-for-tat response “nothing short of an attack on our political system,” accusing Canada of raising “its high protectionist barriers even higher.”
In his final press conference, Trudeau announced that he had to “move forward with retaliatory measures, applying equivalent tariffs to the ones Americans have unjustly applied to us.”
