LAST UPDATE | 4 Dec 2019
US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump cancelled a press conference and branded Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as ‘two-faced’ after a video emerged which appeared to show the Canadian PM and other world leaders mocking him.
A huddle which included UK prime minister Boris Johnson was filmed apparently gossiping about the US president’s unorthodox style last night, although Trump is not mentioned by name.
“He’s two-faced… I find him to be a nice guy, but the truth is I called him out on the fact that he’s not paying 2% [of GDP towards defence] and I guess he’s not very happy about it,” he told reporters.
“Look, I’m representing the US and he should be paying more than he’s paying, he understands it… I can imagine he’s not that happy but that’s the way it is.”
During the recorded chat, as the leaders sipped drinks, Johnson can be heard asking French President Emmanuel Macron: “Is that why you were late?”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press conference off the top.”
Later in the recorded conversation Trudeau adds: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
A video clip of the chat, filmed as world leaders met ahead of a summit to mark Nato’s 70th anniversary, has been viewed almost four million times since it was posted online.
It came after Trump branded Macron’s comments that Nato is “brain dead” as “very nasty”, before the pair met on Tuesday at the US ambassador’s residence in London.
Trump also pressed Trudeau on Canada’s Nato spending at their bilateral meeting.
Meanwhile, following an evening reception hosted by Johnson at Number 10, a member of the US Secret Service was pictured leaving with a Christmas bauble gifted to leaders.
Each Nato leader was given one of the decorations and invited to hang it from the Downing Street tree.
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