US President Donald Trump called Justin Trudeau "two-faced" on Wednesday after the Canadian Prime Minister appeared to be caught on camera joking about his press appearances during a chat with other leaders at a NATO summit in Britain.
Mr Trudeau was filmed at a Buckingham Palace reception for NATO leaders on Tuesday evening describing how surprised US officials appeared to be by Mr Trump's performance at an earlier news conference.
The conversation, which involved Mr Trudeau, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and Queen Elizabeth's daughter Anne, was recorded on video and snippets were audible.
"Is that why you were late?" Mr Johnson asked Mr Macron.
The Princess Royal, Anne, talks to Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Source: Press Association
"...It was like a 40-minute press conference," Mr Trudeau said. "Yeah, yeah, yeah! Forty minutes."
Other words were exchanged but could not be heard, before Mr Trudeau added with a chuckle: "I just watched his team's jaws drop to the floor."
Asked on Wednesday if he had heard Mr Trudeau's remarks about him, Mr Trump said: "He's two-faced".
He suggested that Mr Trudeau was upset because he had challenged him for failing to meet the target of spending 2 per cent of national output on defence.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, US President Donald Trump and Turkey's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Source: Reuters
"I find him to be a very nice guy but you know the truth is that I called him out over the fact that he's not paying 2 per cent and I can see he's not very happy about it," Mr Trump said at a news conference alongside German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Mr Trump later appeared to make light of his own remarks about Mr Trudeau.
"That was funny when I said the guy's two-faced," the president was caught saying on an audio clip following a lunch with some of the NATO leaders.
At a final news conference, Mr Trudeau played down the incident, saying he and Mr Trump had enjoyed a great meeting and that the jaw-dropping comment was a reference to the announcement of the location of the next meeting of G7 leaders at the US presidential retreat, Camp David.
"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," Mr Trudeau told reporters.
Donald Trump departs the NATO conference on Marine One. Source: AP
"We were all surprised and I think pleased to learn that the next G7 will be at Camp David, I think that was an unscheduled announcement and... I think every different leader has teams who every now and then their jaws drop at unscheduled surprises, like that video itself for example."
Mr Trump cancelled his scheduled news conference at the end of the summit, saying he had briefed the media many times during his two-day trip.
“When today’s meetings are over, I will be heading back to Washington,” He said in a tweet. “We won’t be doing a press conference at the close of NATO because we did so many over the past two days. Safe travels to all!”
US President Donald Trump (L) and Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (R) during the NATO Summit in London. Source: EPA
