Trump reportedly joked about Canada burning down the White House during the War of 1812 in a testy call with Trudeau on tariffs
- President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau held a testy call about tariffs last week according to a new report.
- In response to Trudeau's objection to the recent steel and aluminum tariffs, Trump joked: "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?"
- Soldiers did burn down the White House during the War of 1812 in response to an attack in Ontario, but Canada was still a colony of the UK at the time.
- The quip comes as rising trade tensions between Canada and the US threaten to drive the key allies apart.
President Donald Trump referenced the War of 1812 in an attempt to needle Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a recent conversation focused on tariffs, CNN reported Wednesday.
CNN reported that, during a call with Trudeau, Trump referenced the burning of the White House during the War of 1812 as justification for the tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
The Trump administration used national security grounds as justification for the tariffs, invoking a little used provision of a trade law from 1962. CNN reported that after Trudeau objected to the national security rationale, Trump replied: "Didn't you guys burn down the White House?"
The White House was in fact burned down in August 1814 in response to a US attack on York, Ontario in 1813. But, the troops that carried out the attack were technically British since Canada was still a colony of the United Kingdom until the country gained independence in 1867.
The comment was generally seen as a joke, CNN wrote, but it did not seem to go over well with the Canadian leader.
Trump's historical jest comes at a tense time for US-Canada relations.
The US's decision to remove Canada's exemption to the steel and aluminum tariffs, along with Mexico and the European Union, pushed the allies into a conflict that experts fear could result in a trade war.
Following the announcement, Trudeau blasted the barriers, calling Trump's move "totally unacceptable," and the Canadian government announced retaliatory tariffs on US goods. In particular, Trudeau was incensed with the tariffs' suggestion that Canada poses a national security threat to the US.
"The idea that, you know, our soldiers who had fought and died together on the beaches of World War II and the mountains of Afghanistan, and have stood shoulder to shoulder in some of the most difficult places in the world, that are always there for each other, somehow - this is insulting to that," Trudeau said in an interview with NBC.
The harsh words are a dramatic switch from Trudeau's earlier tactics with Trump. The prime minister appeared to be buttering up Trump during the start of the presidency and even recently was more upbeat on the prospects of a deescalation of the trade fight.
In addition to the tariff fracas, the two countries remain far apart in negotiations over a new version of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) with dwindling prospects of a deal getting done anytime soon.
Trump and Trudeau are expected to meet during the president's trip to Canada for the G7 summit this weekend.