WASHINGTON—Premier Doug Ford had lunch at Donald Trump’s hotel in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday.

Ford, a Progressive Conservative and a vocal supporter of the Republican U.S. president during the 2016 presidential election, was invited to the hotel by Trump’s U.S. ambassador to Canada, Kelly Craft, according to the premier’s office and the Canadian embassy.

The Canadian ambassador to the U.S., David MacNaughton, was also in attendance.

“The premier was happy to accept Ambassador Kraft’s (sic) invitation to lunch, along with Ambassador MacNaughton,” Ford’s press secretary, Ivana Yelich, said in an email.

Foreign politicians and diplomats seeking to curry Trump’s favour have frequented the hotel throughout Trump’s term, prompting criticism of them and of the president.

Trump has been sued over this spending by the attorneys general of Maryland and Washington, D.C., who accuse him of violating a section of the U.S. Constitution that prohibits the president from taking “emoluments” from foreign officials. Foreign stays at the hotel are at the centre of the lawsuit.

Ford was making his first foreign trip as premier. His visit was focused on the ongoing NAFTA negotiations, which resumed on Wednesday morning. He said he was “standing shoulder-to-shoulder with our federal government,” with which he has been at odds on other issues, and he praised the federal Liberals for “doing a great job.”

“I can reassure that Ontario and Canada is united when it comes to NAFTA,” Ford said in comments broadcast on CP24.

Neither Yelich nor embassy spokesperson Alexandra Vachon White would comment on the appropriateness of the hotel visit. Trump, who has a Canadian approval rating below 20 per cent, has delivered a series of threats to the Canadian economy after imposing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.

“It was Ambassador Craft’s working lunch to continue the discussion on NAFTA — you’d have to ask her,” said Vachon White.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland met with Ford before the lunch. The lunch was first reported by CTV’s Richard Madan.

The hotel, the Trump International, is a 10-minute walk up Pennsylvania Ave. from the Canadian embassy, Ford’s base for the day.

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