Trump cuts
short Nato summit after fellow leaders' hot-mic video
US
president cancels press conference after video captured group of leaders
apparently ridiculing him
Patrick
Wintour and Rowena Mason
Wed 4 Dec
2019 17.32 GMTFirst published on Wed 4 Dec 2019 13.59 GMT
A furious
Donald Trump cut short his attendance at the Nato summit in London after a
group of leaders, including Boris Johnson, was caught on video ridiculing the
US president at Buckingham Palace for staging lengthy press conferences.
The
notoriously thin-skinned Trump cancelled a planned press conference and branded
the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, “two-faced” after he was revealed
on video leading the laughter at Trump’s expense together with other US allies.
Trump said
the Canadian leader was probably angry because he called him out over Canada’s
failure to meet the Nato target of spending 2% of its GDP on defence, a figure
that has developed a shibboleth status in the president’s eyes and underlines
his transactional approach to the western defence alliance.
Footage
emerged late on Tuesday that appears to show world leaders joking about Trump
at the summit, which has been marked by sharp disagreements over spending and
future threats, including Turkey’s role in the alliance and China, as well as a
clash of personalities that triggered a flurry of incendiary language being
deployed by leaders.
The video
shows leaders including Trudeau, Johnson, the French president, Emmanuel
Macron, the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, and Princess Anne at the
Buckingham Palace event on Tuesday evening.
In audio
caught on a nearby microphone, Johnson asks Macron: “Is that why he was late?”
before Trudeau interjects: “He was late because he takes a 40-minute press
conference off the top.”
Trudeau
adds: “Oh, yeah, yeah yeah. He announced … ” before he is cut off by Macron,
who speaks animatedly to the group. Macron’s back is to the camera and his
words are inaudible.
After an
edited cut in the film, the footage later shows an incredulous Trudeau telling
the group: “You just watched his team’s jaws drop to the floor.”
The US
president was sitting alongside the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, on
Wednesday when a reporter asked about Trudeau’s apparent remarks.
“Well, he’s
two-faced,” Trump said of Trudeau, before going on to make a reference to the
defence spending of Nato allies who commit less than the agreed 2% to defence.
“I find him to be a very nice guy but you know
the truth is that I called him out the fact that he’s not paying 2% and I can
see he’s not very happy about it. He’s not paying 2% and he should be paying
2%. Canada – they have money.”
Apparently
aware of how his actions would be interpreted, Trump was then himself caught on
a hot mic saying: “Oh, and then you know what they’ll say. He didn’t do a press
conference. He didn’t do a press conference. That was funny when I said the
guy’s two-faced, you know that.”
The US
president later tweeted: “When today’s meetings are over, I will be heading
back to Washington … 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!”
On
Wednesday evening he tweeted: “The Fake News Media is doing everything possible
to belittle my VERY successful trip to London for NATO. I got along great with
the NATO leaders, even getting them to pay $130 Billion a year more, & $400
Billion a year more in 3 years. No increase for U.S., only deep respect!”
Overall the
episode is only likely to underline the sense that the supposed leader of the
free world is privately viewed with a mixture of mirth and alarm.
Asked at
his own press conference about the video footage, Johnson shook his head and
said: “That’s complete nonsense. I don’t know where that’s come from.”
Pressed
again, he said: “I really don’t know what’s being referred to there.” Johnson’s
aides would not say whether he had seen the video, but claimed he had been
“very busy” at the summit.
Privately
Downing Street will be relieved that the unpredictable Trump did not face the
international media again, fearing that under questioning he might rescind his
commitment not to include the NHS in any future trade talks or repeat his
criticisms of the terms of Johnson’s Brexit deal.
With Trump
seen as electorally toxic in the UK in the final days of the election campaign,
it is notable that few public images of the two men together have been
released, despite the pair attending events at both Buckingham Palace and No 10
on Wednesday, as well as having their own bilateral meeting.
Johnson
also sidestepped the opportunity to praise Trump personally when asked if he
thought the president’s leadership was good for the west and for Britain,
replying by praising the US as a nation.
Trudeau
also tried to play down the laughter at the president’s expense. He said: “We
had a great meeting yesterday between me and the president … 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,” Trudeau said.
Trump had
startled his aides on Monday by holding two lengthy impromptu freewheeling
press conferences, one with the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, and another
with President Macron. At the first he launched a tirade against Macron,
calling the French president’s remarks that Nato was “brain dead” as “very,
very nasty” and “insulting”.
At the
second event, he was personally polite to Macron but clashed with him over
France’s refusal to take back its foreign fighters from Syria, and then
threatened trade sanctions against countries that did not reach the Nato defence
target, so putting Germany in his sights.
Ironically
until his abrupt walkout, Trump had shown a new relative warmth to Nato,
claiming credit for the recent rise in European defence spending and praising
the institution in the face of Macron’s criticisms. He even said: “There’s a
great spirit. A lot of people are putting up a lot of money.”
The
comments had marked a change of tone from sentiments he voiced at the outset of
his presidency, when he dismissed the alliance as obsolescent and questioned
the value of article 5, the collective defence clause that requires Nato
members to come to each other’s military aid if under attack.
It is not
the first time Trump has had a run-in with Trudeau. Last year he withdrew US
support for a G7 declaration prepared for a summit in Charlevoix, Quebec.
Trudeau’s hard work in preparing the communique unravelled after Trump, who
left early, tweeted from Air Force One that Trudeau was “very dishonest and
weak” following criticism from the prime minister of US steel and aluminium
tariffs. As a result France at this year’s G7 tried to pare the communique down
to a minimum.
Trump is
due to chair the next G7 at Camp David next year. He had originally scheduled
to hold the high security event at his Doral Miami resort in Florida, but
agreed to shift the venue in wake of criticism that it was inappropriate to use
his own property for such a purpose.
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