Trump, Trudeau discuss trade, economic issues over phone: White House

US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have discussed trade and other economic issues over the phone, according to the White House.

White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders made the announcement on Saturday, a day after Canada struck back at the Trump administration over US steel and aluminum tariffs.  

The phone call between the two leaders was the first to be publicly disclosed since Trump described Trudeau as “very dishonest and weak” at the end of the Group of Seven (G7) leaders meeting in Canada early last month.

On June 9, Trump left the G7 industrial nations’ summit in Canada early in anticipation of the meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore.

Trudeau said after the G7 summit that it was "kind of insulting" that the United States implemented steel and aluminum tariffs against his country on the basis of national security. Trudeau also promised to slap retaliatory tariffs against Washington and said Canada "will not be pushed around."

In response, Trump said that the United States would not sign the joint communiqué signed by the other nations at the G7 summit.

Canada on Friday launched a retaliatory trade war against the United States by introducing fresh punitive tariffs on American summertime essentials, vowing to continue with the new tariffs until Washington relents.

The tit-for-tat tariffs target US products such as Florida orange juice and Ohio ketchup.

The tariffs imposed on C$16.6 billion ($12.63 billion) worth of American goods will come into force on Sunday, when Canadians, who are overwhelmingly in favor of the retaliatory move, will be celebrating a national holiday and only a few days before Americans celebrate their independence.

During the phone call, Trudeau told Trump that Canada had no choice but to announce reciprocal countermeasures to the steel and aluminum tariffs, according to a separate statement issued by the Canadian government.

Canada and the US are among the world's two largest trade partners with an estimated $673.9 billion worth of goods and services exchanged last year, with the US scoring a small surplus ($8.4 billion), according to the US Trade Representative's office.

But bilateral ties plunged to their lowest in decades and reached new depths at the 44th G7 summit, held in La Malbaie, Quebec, when Trump insulted Trudeau.

SS