Trump Official Gets On Her Soapbox to Denounce … Name-Calling? ‘I Don’t Think Name-Calling is Ever Appropriate’

A Treasury Department official denounced “name-calling” on NewsNation Monday after Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s comments about her boss, President Donald Trump.

Speaking from the G20 Summit in Asheville, North Carolina, Under Secretary for International Affairs Erin Browne addressed a question about Ford and Canadian trade by denouncing the childish tactic.

NewsNation’s Markie Martin asked, “Ontario Premier Doug Ford urging calm between the United States and Canada on trade. And you know, he said, ‘We’re allies, we’re best friends.’ But just a few days ago he called President Trump a ‘dictator’ and a ‘bully.’ How heavily is the trade war with Canada going to loom over these G20 talks?”

“Well, I don’t think name-calling is ever appropriate,” Browne answered.

“You know, the president has done a really phenomenal job in leading this country and leading it so that we bring back jobs to of America, bring back manufacturing to America, and he’s really made it a central point to work for all Americans and ensure that we are not taken advantage of by our counterparts anymore,” Browne said.

“So, certainly, imbalances of the important focal point of the G20 and that is something that we’ll be discussing over the coming days in the context of global imbalances,” Browne added.

Trump has called Ford a “flunky” and the “less charismatic, intelligent, and overall unimpressive brother of the late, great Rob Ford,” but Browne didn’t address the full war of words between the two leaders.

Martin continued, “And I think a lot of people are wondering, ‘Okay, how do we bring things back from the brink with Canada,’ because we know that their retaliatory tariffs will go into effect September 8th if no sort of deal is finalized between them. What kind of deal is the president looking for, ma’am?”

“I think President Trump has really set the example of leadership by putting a really fair deal on the table for Canada,” Browne said. “So it really comes up to Canada to come back to us with accepting the deal that President Trump has already offered to them.”

Following the failed trade talks with Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney blamed last-minute changes in the U.S. proposed terms as “unfair” and “uneconomic.”

Watch the clip above.

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