Justin Trudeau

CBC





Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau derided US President Donald Trump's racist remarks that a group of freshman congresswomen should go and fix what Trump described as "totally broken" countries they came from.

Trudeau, speaking at a joint NATO press conference on Monday, said: "It's not how we do things in Canada."

In the week leading up to Trump's tweet, Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, and Ayanna Pressley had criticized his administration.

Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, and Tlaib were all born in the US, while Omar came to the country as a refugee from Somalia as a child and is now an American citizen.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has rebuked US President Donald Trump's racist remarks to freshman members of Congress, saying it's "not how we do things in Canada."

"I think Canadians and indeed people around the world know exactly what I think about those particular comments," Trudeau said at a joint press conference alongside NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Monday.

"That is not how we do things in Canada. A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian."Patrick Semansky, File via AP, Evan Vucci/AP

aoc trump

On Sunday, Trump let loose on a group of freshman members of Congress — all women of color — in a series of tweets.

Read more: 'You're better than that': Geraldo Rivera hits back at Trump for telling progressive freshman congresswomen to 'go back' to 'broken and crime infested' countries

"Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came," he wrote, alluding to Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, and Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts, who had all criticized the administration during the past week.

Tweet Embed:

//twitter.com/mims/statuses/1150381395078000643?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

....and viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run. Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how....

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Ocasio-Cortez immediately hit back on Twitter, saying the "corrupt" and "crime infested" country he seemed to tell her to "go back" to was in fact the US.

Read more: Resolution introduced in the House of Representatives condemning Trump's 'racist comments' directed at progressive freshman lawmakers

Ocasio-Cortez, Pressley, and Tlaib were all born in the US, while Omar came to the country as a refugee from Somalia as a child and is now an American citizen.

Rashida Tlaib Ilhan Omar

TYT Investigates/YouTube; Reuters

Trump defended his tweets on Monday, saying he wasn't concerned with backlash calling his comments racist.

"It doesn't concern me, because many people agree with me," Trump told reporters at the White House.

"And all I'm saying: They want to leave, they can leave. Now, it doesn't say leave forever — it says leave if you want," he added.

The same day, freshman Rep. Tom Malinowski of New Jersey introduced a resolution in the House of Representatives condemning Trump over the comments.

The four congresswomen also held a press conference on Monday, where they said that Trump's comments were a "distraction" from what they wanted to work toward in office and that the comments challenged American ideals.

Read more: UK Prime Minister Theresa May slams Trump's 'completely unacceptable' tweets

Trump has been criticized by leading Democratic figures including Nancy Pelosi and Hillary Clinton, though members of the GOP have largely stayed silent.

Trudeau is also not the only international leader to condemn Trump's comments: UK Prime Minister Theresa May said his comments were "completely unacceptable."

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