The US President has cancelled a press conference and branded Canadian President Justin Trudeau “two-faced” after a group of leaders at the summit in London were purportedly caught on video at Buckingham Palace joking at Trump’s lengthy press conferences.
The clip shows the group – including the UK’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President, Emmanuel Macron, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and Princess Anne – talking and Johnson asking Macron: “Is that why he was late?” before Trudeau jumps in: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”
Trump says the Canadian leader was likely angry because he called him out over Canada’s failure to meet the NATO target of spending 2% of its GDP on defense.
“I find him to be a very nice guy, but you know the truth is that I called him out the fact that he’s not paying 2% and I can see he’s not very happy about it. He’s not paying 2% and he should be paying 2%. Canada – they have money,” he said.
The group however denied that they were making fun of the US President – “We had a great meeting yesterday between me and the president … Last night I made a reference to the fact there was an unscheduled press conference before my meeting with President Trump, I was happy to take part in it, but it was certainly notable,” Trudeau said.
Trump also brushed off the media attention.
Later that day, the US President tweeted: “The Fake News Media is doing everything possible to belittle my VERY successful trip to London for NATO. I got along great with the NATO leaders, even getting them to pay $130 Billion a year more, & $400 Billion a year more in 3 years. No increase for U.S., only deep respect!”
We would say there is respect for the US – whether it extends to its leader is another question.
