WASHINGTON—An official in the Trump administration privately referred to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as “that little punk kid running Canada,” another Trump official said at an event on Wednesday.

Larry Kudlow, Trump’s chief economic adviser, recounted the story at an invitation-only dinner hosted by the American Spectator, a conservative magazine.

According to the Washington Examiner, which was in attendance, Kudlow said that one of his friends in the White House, “who will go unnamed,” said they were pleased they had managed to come to a trade agreement with Canada — despite Trudeau.

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“ ‘We didn’t walk away. We didn’t end it. We made a deal. Alright? ’Spite that little punk kid running Canada, we still made it,’ ” Kudlow said, the Examiner reported. “And I’ve had some wonderful run-ins with him.”

Trudeau’s office declined to comment on Kudlow’s remarks.

Trump and his aides, including Kudlow, had hurled public insults at Trudeau during the contentious negotiations on the future of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

But the president’s language brightened two weeks ago when they announced their deal, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. Trump called Trudeau “a good person who is doing a good job,” and he declared that the bilateral tensions had “ended.”

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