Trump slams the wrong Canadian PM trying to defend Putin

Meeting Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on his arrival at the G7 summit in Canada, Donald Trump told reporters that Justin Trudeau was responsible for Russia’s exclusion from the now-defunct G8.

However, this decision had been made in 2014, when the head of the Canadian government was Stephen Harper.

Donald Trump, clearly inclined to support Vladimir Putin, took advantage of his arrival at the G7 summit to criticize the decision to exclude Russia from the G8 in 2014, taken after the annexation of Crimea. He took the opportunity to launch a dig at Justin Trudeau, whom he wrongly accuses of convincing one or two leaders to support the measure.

Commenting on what he sees as an unjustified decision against the Russian president, Donald Trump placed the blame on Barack Obama, then president of the United States, while committing a historic mix-up. He said: “He was thrown out, by Trudeau, who convinced one or two people, along with Obama”.

However, it was Stephen Harper, not Justin Trudeau, who was Prime Minister of Canada at the time of Russia’s expulsion, since Trudeau only came to power in November 2015. The decision to suspend Russia was taken by the members of the now G7 on March 24, 2014.

During this exchange, he was asked whether other major powers should also be invited to attend the summit. Trump replied that China’s presence would “not be a bad idea”, while pointing out that you need interlocutors you can talk to. He then turned to the case of the Russian president, saying that “he (Putin) doesn’t want to talk because he was insulted when he was thrown out of the G8”.

Continuing on Putin, Trump says he agrees with his sentiment: “He’s not a happy person about it,” adding, “He doesn’t speak with the people who threw him out, and I agree with him.”

It should be remembered that Russia’s exclusion from the G8 in 2014 followed the violation of international law that represented the annexation of Crimea.