WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump pulled out of the Group of 7 joint communique Saturday night because he wanted to avoid a show of weakness before his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, a White House official said Sunday.
Trump agreed with the language in the communique from the summit in Canada Friday and Saturday, but took offense at criticism of U.S. tariffs by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at his news conference after Trump left early.
The president "is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around ... on the eve of this," top White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on CNN's "State of the Union."
"He is not going to permit any show of weakness on the trip to negotiate with North Korea, nor should he," Kudlow said. "Kim must not see American weakness."
The decision to back out of the communique was "in large part" because of the upcoming North Korea summit, Kudlow said.
He said Trump agreed with the fairly generic trade language in the communique drafted by the G7 leaders, who are traditionally America's closet allies.
But when Trudeau said Canada would be forced to retaliate for U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum and would not agree to a sunset provision in a new North American Free Trade Agreement, "he really kind of stabbed us in the back," Kudlow said.
"We were very close to making a deal with Canada on NAFTA ... then we leave and he pulls this sophomoric political stunt for domestic consumption," Kudlow said of Trudeau.
"It's a betrayal, essentially a double-crossing," Kudlow said.
Trump said on Twitter that he would not sign the communique, calling Trudeau "very dishonest & weak" for his trade criticism.
