Evan Vucci/AP via CP U.S. President Donald Trump talks with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau during a G7 Summit welcome ceremony in Charlevoix, Que. on June 8, 2018.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau was pressed on whether or not he trusts Donald Trump to honour a new North American trade pact in an interview with CNN Monday.

And in a sit-down with Poppy Harlow, Trudeau suggested Canada could ratify the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) even if the U.S. keeps punishing tariffs on steel and aluminum.

The prime minister told the network he has a "good, constructive working relationship" with Trump, despite public differences.

Harlow noted that Trudeau said in the past that his father, former prime minister Pierre Trudeau, taught him to trust people.

'My approach is to trust Canadians'

"Do you fully trust President Trump that he will uphold his promises and not back out of deals, as we saw with the G7 closing communique?" she asked, referring to Trump's Twitter tantrum after the group's meeting in Charlevoix, Que. in June.

"What my father taught me was to trust Canadians," Trudeau said. "It was a way of looking at the electorate and saying, you don't have to dumb it down for them. You don't have to scare them into this or that. You can actually treat people like intelligent, rational actors and they will rise to the occasion."

But Trump is not a Canadian, the reporter noted.

"Do you trust President Trump on these issues?" she asked.

"Every leader has a job of sticking up for their own country and they will do it in their own ways. And I respect the fact that people have different approaches to it," Trudeau responded. "My approach is to trust Canadians and deal in a way that is direct with other leaders."

Watch the exchange: