Last month, in a head-spinning turn of events, the White House announced that the U.S. would not, in fact, be pulling out of NAFTA. The news capped a dizzying week in which reports circulated that Trump was reneging on his campaign promise to pull out of the “worst deal“ ever, followed by word that the administration was drafting an order to exit the deal, followed, 12 hours later, by the announcement that we would stick with it and renegotiate the terms with Mexico and Canada. According to Trump himself, he changed his mind because Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau called him up, asked him to please not pull out of the deal, and because Trump said he liked those countries, he said O.K. Now, we’ve learned that there was, in fact, even more to the story: According to the National Post, Trump’s own advisers called Justin Trudeau and begged him to persuade the president to come to his senses:

The unconventional diplomatic manoeuvre—approaching the head of a foreign government to influence your own boss—proved decisive, as Trump thereafter abandoned his threat to pull out of NAFTA unilaterally, citing the arguments made by Trudeau and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto as pivotal. But the incident highlights the difficulties faced by governments all over the world when it comes to dealing with a president as volatile as Trump.

But the story gets stranger still. The Canadian Press reports that the top aide in question was actually Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser:

A pair of sources described the chain of events. At about 6 P.M., the senior White House aide contacted a counterpart in Ottawa. The president's son-in-law and adviser called PMO chief of staff Katie Telford, and said: Trump has a free moment, right now, to speak about NAFTA.

He suggested Trudeau might want to call the White House.

According to the Associated Press, it was actually Ottawa that reached out to Kushner, who acted more as a mere intermediary. (Kushner never appeared to care much about the deal either way.) But whoever phoned whom first, it is clear that the Justin-Jared team is an effective moderating force on the president. Clearly, this tactic should be employed whenever anyone can’t get anything through Trump’s Twitter-addled brain. Worried he might up and bomb Australia? Ask Kushner to have Trudeau give him a call. Unable to pry his phone from his surprisingly strong grip before he shoots off a Tweet dissing Angela Merkel? Frantically text Trudeau, tell him it’s urgent, tell him it doesn’t matter if he’s addressing parliament, tell him he must call Trump immediately. The fate of the republic is at stake.