Iran Press/Europe: The notoriously thin-skinned Donald Trump cancelled a planned press conference and branded the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, “two-faced” after he was revealed on video leading the laughter at Trump’s expense together with other US allies.
Trump said the Canadian leader was probably angry because he called him out over Canada’s failure to meet the NATO target of spending 2 percent of its GDP on defence, a figure that has developed a shibboleth status in the president’s eyes and underlines his transactional approach to the western defence alliance.
Footage emerged late on Tuesday that appears to show NATO leaders joking about Trump at the summit, which has been marked by sharp disagreements over spending and future threats, including Turkey’s role in the alliance and China, as well as a clash of personalities that triggered a flurry of incendiary language being deployed by leaders.
The video shows leaders including Trudeau, Johnson, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and daughter of the British Queen, Princess Anne at the Buckingham Palace event on Tuesday evening.
Justin Trudeau, Boris Johnson, Princess Anne joke about Trump at Nato summit
In audio caught on a nearby microphone, Johnson asks Macron: “Is that why he was late?” before Trudeau interjects: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”
Trudeau adds: “Oh, yeah, yeah yeah. He announced … ” before he is cut off by Macron, who speaks animatedly to the group. Macron’s back is to the camera and his words are inaudible.
After an edited cut in the film, the footage later shows an incredulous Trudeau telling the group: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
The US president was sitting alongside the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on Wednesday when a reporter asked about Trudeau’s apparent remarks.
“Well, he’s two-faced,” Trump said of Trudeau, before going on to make a reference to the defence spending of NATO allies who commit less than the agreed 2% to defence.
On Wednesday evening he 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!”
Asked at his own press conference about the video footage, Johnson shook his head and said: “That’s complete nonsense. I don’t know where that’s come from.”
Pressed again, he said: “I really don’t know what’s being referred to there.” Johnson’s aides would not say whether he had seen the video, but claimed he had been “very busy” at the summit.
Trudeau also tried to play down the laughter at the president’s expense. He said: “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 had startled his aides on Monday by holding two lengthy impromptu press conferences, one with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and another with President Macron. At the first press conference, he launched a tirade against Macron, calling the French president’s remarks that Nato was “brain dead” as “very, very nasty” and “insulting”.
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