Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says U.S. President Donald Trump is a straight shooter.
Trudeau was a guest on Anderson Cooper 360 on Tuesday when the CNN host mentioned Trump’s flip-flop on gun control and asked whether Trudeau had full confidence he would stick to his word in their dealings.
READ MORE: Donald Trump backtracks on gun reform following last month’s Florida shooting
“He always has with me,” Trudeau said. “When we’ve agreed on things, he’s moved forward.”
Trudeau pointed to the steel tariffs that Trump recently levied as an example of how he could trust the U.S. president.
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“When I spoke to him about this concern around national security and 232 a year ago in Sicily he assured me that Canada wouldn’t be part of the tariffs if they moved forward and indeed Canada’s not a part of the tariffs moving forward,” Trudeau explained.
Trump first floated the idea of tariffs to Trudeau at the G7 meeting in Italy in 2016. While Trump did eventually live up to his word that he would exclude Canada, the Trudeau government has spent the last year lobbying U.S. government officials for the exemption.
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Trudeau, along with several key ministers lobbied American counterparts for the past year on the issue.
“This has been a true Team Canada effort,” Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland noted this week.
Trump created the tariffs with the claims that they were part of a security issue but Trudeau pointed out to the host that the U.S. military needs Canadian steel.
READ MORE: Trudeau says U.S. aluminum tariffs won’t force Canada’s hand in NAFTA negotiations
Cooper also questioned Trudeau over whether Trump’s efforts were bullying tactics on NAFTA.
“On the national security side, we have always been incredibly integrated. Canadian aluminum is in your fighter jets. Canadian steel is in your tanks,” Trudeau said on CNN.
“There is no better security partner to the United States than Canada is so that whole issue of national security is off the table.”
WATCH: Tariff exemptions not a ‘magical favour’ from U.S., Trudeau says
Trump and Trudeau spoke by phone on Monday ahead of the interview. In past conversations, Trudeau says he told Trump the tariffs would hinder ongoing NAFTA talks.
“One of the things I pointed out to the president is that the steel issue would actually make it harder to move forward on NAFTA,” Trudeau said.
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