Barry Ellsworth
04 December 2019•Update: 04 December 2019
TRENTON, Canada
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did not apologize Wednesday for remarks that seemed to mock U.S. President Donald Trump at a NATO meeting in London.
In a viral video which saw Trudeau and a few other leaders, including U.K.’s Boris Johnson, France’s Emmanuel Macron and the Queen’s daughter, Princess Anne, gossiping about Trump -- led to Trump calling Trudeau “two-faced.”
It was shot at Buckingham Palace, Tuesday, and in the group of leaders, Johnson asked Macron why he was late.
Trudeau made a joke saying the French president was late because he attended what was supposed to be a short news conference with Trump.
“He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top,” Trudeau quipped.
When reporters asked Trudeau about his remarks caught on the video, he said he merely informed other leaders of Trump’s announcement that the next G7 meeting would be at Camp David in the U.S.
Trump, however, took a different interpretation when he heard the video remarks.
“Well, he’s two-faced,” the president said Wednesday, responding to Trudeau apparently referencing Trump’s long and unplanned news conference with Macron.
Trump said Trudeau’s gossiping was likely a result of being pressed on not meeting Canada’s NATO defence spending goal of 2% of gross domestic product.
The closest Trudeau came to mentioning his video remarks contained no reference to his quip about Trump.
“Last night, I made a reference to the fact that there was an unscheduled press conference before my meeting with President Trump and I was happy to take part of it but it was certainly notable,” he said.
When reporters continued to ask about the remarks, Trudeau offered no apology nor did he say he had discussed the video with Trump.
