Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau mocked President Donald Trump on Tuesday at a NATO summit in London, saying that Trump’s team’s “jaws drop[ped] to the floor” after watching the president’s behavior.
Trudeau’s mockery of Trump became international news, and the president immediately canceled a press conference that he was scheduled to participate in at the conclusion of a NATO summit in London.
On Friday, however, Trump got the last laugh after jobs reports were released for both countries that showed very different performance numbers to put it mildly.
CNBC noted the following highlights from the U.S. jobs report:
- Nonfarm payrolls surged by 266,000 in November, better than the 187,000 expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.
- The unemployment rate ticked down to 3.5% from 3.6%, back to the 2019 low and matching the lowest jobless rate since 1969.
- Average hourly earnings rose by 3.1% from a year ago, slightly above the 3% expected by economists polled by Dow Jones.
CNS News reported that the 158,593,000 Americans who were employed in November marked “the 24th record of Trump’s presidency” in terms of the overall number of Americans in the workforce.
“This is a ‘who would have thought moment?’” Becky Frankiewicz, president of staffing company ManpowerGroup’s North America division, told The Wall Street Journal. “No one would have ever guessed we could be sitting at 3.5% unemployment with 110 months of job gains.”
Trudeau’s economy took a very different turn than the U.S. economy did as it registered the biggest drop in employment in a decade.
“Canada’s job market unexpectedly weakened for a second-straight month, registering the biggest drop in employment since 2009 and casting doubt on the resiliency of the domestic outlook,” The Financial Post reported. “The economy lost 71,200 jobs in November, Statistics Canada said Friday in Ottawa, following a decline of 1,800 in the prior month.”
“The report missed the median economist forecast for a gain of 10,000 jobs,” The Financial Post continued. “The unemployment rate increased to 5.9 per cent in the month, from 5.5 per cent in October, the biggest one-month jump since 2009. The decrease in employment was broad-based among both the goods-producing and service-producing sectors.”
Julia Pollak, labor economist at ZipRecruiter, noted, “Canada’s jobs report is disappointing, showing job losses for the second month in a row. But observers should remember that the numbers are highly volatile and that this is still the strongest year for job growth in Canada in 17 years.”
Donald Trump Jr. had a different take, writing on Twitter: “For perspective the US is about 10X the population of Canada so this would be the equivalent of America shedding 700,000 jobs. Yikes! Maybe Justin should watch @realDonaldTrump & learn how to create jobs… or go back to being a substitute drama teacher. Either way Canada wins!”
For perspective the US is about 10X the population of Canada so this would be the equivalent of America shedding 700,000 jobs. Yikes!
Maybe Justin should watch @realDonaldTrump & learn how to create jobs… or go back to being a substitute drama teacher.
Either way Canada wins! https://t.co/uwq0sGJFdD
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) December 7, 2019
Trudeau’s mockery of Trump surprised some who noted online that he did not have a lot of room to make fun of anyone after his embarrassing blackface scandal earlier this year.
“Numerous photographs and videos surfaced earlier this year that showed Trudeau wearing blackface which is universally seen as racist and condescending to black people,” The Daily Wire reported. “Trudeau was later humiliated by school children who confronted him on camera about why he choose to wear racist blackface.”
A new high quality video of @JustinTrudeau dancing in blackface
Read more: https://t.co/Ytarj5Heih#cdnpoli #elxn43 #TrudeauBlackface pic.twitter.com/vyrIiJpHdO
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 28, 2019
Ezra Levant, founder of The Rebel, a Canadian publication, tweeted out a video clip Trudeau mocking Trump, writing: “Just like at the G7 meeting last year, Justin Trudeau was meek and obedient to Donald Trump when they were face to face. But the moment Trump left the room Trudeau bad-mouthed him. Here he is doing the same in London, mocking Canada’s greatest NATO ally.”
Just like at the G7 meeting last year, Justin Trudeau was meek and obedient to Donald Trump when they were face to face. But the moment Trump left the room Trudeau bad-mouthed him. Here he is doing the same in London, mocking Canada’s greatest NATO ally. pic.twitter.com/hGENrbnHg7
— Ezra Levant 🍁 (@ezralevant) December 3, 2019
Levant later highlighted how Trudeau has been awkwardly ignored by world leaders on the international stage multiple times.