G7 summit: Trump's Trudeau jibes bring Canadians and Americans together
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Reuters
Canadians are reeling after US President Donald Trump's latest jibes against their leader Justin Trudeau.
On Tuesday, Mr Trump continued his war of words against Mr Trudeau, saying the Canadian leader's stance against the US would cost his Canada "a lot of money".
Mr Trump had earlier posted a string of tweets attacking Mr Trudeau's personality just hours after leaving the divisive G7 summit in Quebec.
"[He] acted so meek and mild," he said. "Very dishonest and weak."
Mr Trump's latest comments have elicited many apologies from Americans who disagree with his hard-line approach.
Actor Robert De Niro, who was in Canada for a restaurant opening, apologised to a crowd for "the idiotic behaviour of my president".
"I apologise to Justin Trudeau and the other people at the G7," he said as the crowd cheered in Toronto.
Even the city's mayor John Tory thanked the actor for his remarks.
On social media #ThanksCanada was trending, as Americans online expressed their gratitude for their northern neighbour and distanced themselves from their president.
Mr Trump's comments continue to provide fodder for columnists from some of Canada's top newspapers.
"The strongest bilateral relationship in the world is in a ditch and there's no clear way to get out," wrote Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente.
"Reasoning and logic won't help. You might as well try to reason with a two-tonne two-year old with a tantrum."
A columnist for La Presse, another French-language daily, said Canada's relationship with the US has never been so threatened in the country's modern history.
"Unlike those who preceded him in recent decades, Donald Trump is no friend to Canada," writes Alexandre Sirois.
"He does not wish us well."
In Maclean's magazine, columnist Scott Gilmore called on Canadians to hit Mr Trump "where it hurts" by boycotting his businesses.
Mr Trump's insults even managed to unite Canada's political parties, spurring Mr Trudeau's political enemies leapt to his defence.
On Monday, members of Parliament in Canada's House of Commons unanimously passed a motion in support of retaliatory measures against the US metals tariffs and to "reject disparaging and ad hominem statements by US officials which do a disservice to bilateral relations and work against efforts to resolve this trade dispute".
The leader of Canada's opposition Conservative Party accused the US of "divisive rhetoric and personal attacks".
Doug Ford, who was recently elected premier of Ontario, tweeted his support for Mr Trudeau.
Jason Kenney, the leader of the United Conservative Party, and leader of the opposition in the province of Alberta, tweeted out an old clip of former president Ronald Reagan saying that America's peaceful allies "are not our enemies".
Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May said that all Canadian leaders should rally behind Mr Trudeau.
The spat began shortly after the G7 summit concluded, when Mr Trudeau gave a press conference vowing retaliatory action next month over US tariffs on steel and aluminium.
Mr Trump then unleashed a series of tweets personally attacking the Canadian PM.
Those first tweets spurred most Canadian newspapers to run angry editorials denouncing Mr Trump.
"He sulked his way through the first part of the meeting, gave his delegation the OK to sign the summit's pallid final communiqué, then threw a hissy fit and tore it up," the Toronto Star said.
"It was both dishonest and amateurish."
The newspaper said Mr Trump "chose to make up his own facts" about tariffs and trade.
The Globe and Mail newspaper was equally strong, branding the spat "one of the most flagrant manufactured crises ever perpetrated by an American administration against an ally".
"Mr Trump set an antagonistic tone for the summit by announcing, just prior to it, steep tariffs on Canadian and European steel and aluminium," it said.
French language daily Le Journal de Montreal said Mr Trudeau "became the scapegoat of Donald Trump and his advisers".
Mr Trump kept up his rhetoric from Singapore, where he is attending a summit with North Korea's Kim Jong-un, condemning allies for the level of their payments towards Nato.
