SEOUL (Reuters) -In a post on the social media site Truth Social on Wednesday, U.S. President Donald Trump said he didn’t come to South Korea to see Canada, amid a trade spat with the United States’ northern neighbour.
“For those that are asking, we didn’t come to South Korea to see Canada!” he wrote shortly after arriving in the city of Gyeongju ahead of talks with the presidents of South Korea and China, among other leaders.
Later on Wednesday Trump is set to attend a group dinner whose guests include Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney. On Monday, Carney said he was ready to sit down for trade talks with Trump as soon as the U.S. president is prepared to do so.
Last week Trump announced he was cutting off trade talks with Ottawa and announced an additional 10% tariffs on goods from Canada after an Ontario political ad used a snippet of Republican icon and former President Ronald Reagan saying tariffs cause trade wars and economic disaster.
Carney is on his first official visit to Asia, attempting to deepen trade and security ties at a time when Canada is struggling to reduce its overwhelming dependence on the United States and redefine its foreign policy to pursue new markets.
Carney will meet Chinese President Xi Jinping later this week.
(Reporting by Josh Smith; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Michael Perry)
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