World Leaders React to Trump’s Bizarre Attacks on Canada

The trust is gone. Photo: Saul Loeb/AFP/Getty Images

Shortly after departing the G7 summit in Quebec on Saturday, President Trump tweeted that he would not endorse the group communique he had just grudgingly agreed to, after he took offense to a Justin Trudeau press conference in which the prime minister promised — rather politely — to retaliate against Trump’s unreasonable tariffs against his country.

On Sunday morning, two Trump economic advisers, Larry Kudlow and Peter Navarro, ratcheted up the bizarro rhetoric. Kudlow called Trudeau’s remarks a “betrayal” and said “he really kind of stabbed us in the back,” while Navarro scowled, “There’s a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump.”

As America distanced itself from its allies while attempting to pick a genuine fight with its placid neighbor to the north, a dumbfounded rest of the world reacted — and a couple of Republicans weighed in, too. A selection of the responses, below:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, in a statement: “We are focused on everything we accomplished at the G7 summit. The prime minister said nothing he hasn’t said before — both in public, and in private conversations with the president.”

French President Emmanuel Macron, in a statement: “We spent two days to obtain a text and commitments. We will stand by them and anyone who would depart from them, once their back was turned, shows their incoherence and inconsistency. International cooperation cannot depend on fits of anger or little words. Let us be serious and worthy of our people.”

German Chancellor Angela Merkel: “The withdrawal, so to speak, via tweet is of course … sobering and a bit depressing.”

European Council President Donald Tusk:

Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland: “Canada does not conduct its diplomacy through ad hominem attacks. We don’t think that that is a useful or productive way to do business.”

Canadian Opposition Leader Andrew Scheer:

Former Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt:

Senator John McCain:

Senator Jeff Flake:

World Leaders React to Trump’s Bizarre Attacks on Canada