Trudeau brands Trump's trade tariffs and says it is 'insulting' and 'unacceptable' that Canada is seen as a threat to the U.S.

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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau slammed President Donald Trump's new steel and aluminum tariff policies, saying it is 'insulting and unacceptable' to say Canada is a threat to the U.S.

The Canadian prime minister fought back against the White House rational that the tariff policy was for in the best security interest of the United States.

'The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable,' he said on NBC's 'Meet the Press.'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau fought back against the White House rational that the tariff policy was for in the best security interest of the United Sates

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and President Trump have been engaged in a war of words since the tariff decision was announced, sparking fears of an international trade war

And when asked what Trump wanted from him with these tariffs, Trudeau responded: 'I don't know.' 

It's the latest salvo in a rhetoric battle brewing between the neighboring countries over Trump's new tariff policy. 

Trudeau, Trump and White House officials have been engaged in a war of words since the tariff decision was announced on Friday, sparking fears of an international trade war.

Trudeau, in his interview on 'Meet the Press,' emphasized the long history between the U.S. and Canada, noting how the military from each country has fought together. 

'The idea that, you know, our soldiers who had fought and died together on the beaches of World War II on the - and the mountains of Afghanistan, and have stood shoulder to shoulder in some of the most difficult places in the world, that are always there for each other, somehow - this is insulting to them,' he said in an interview from his Parliament office in Ottawa. 

'The idea that the Canadian steel that's in military, military vehicles in the United States, the Canadian aluminum that makes your, your fighter jets is somehow now a threat?' 

On Friday, Trump allowed Canada and the European Union's exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs to expire. That resulted in the U.S. imposing tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, on steel and aluminum imports from Canada and the European Union.  

White House National Trade Council director Peter Navarro framed the issue as a matter of national security.

'This particular action on steel and aluminum is not about unfair trade practices,' Navarro told Fox Business. 'It's about national security. … Without an aluminum steel industry, we don't have a country.'

Trudeau counted that argument by emphasizing how the neighboring countries are bound together. 

'There are no two countries that are as interconnected, interdependent. You sell more things to us every year than to UK, Japan, and China combined,' he told NBC.

He argued the decision would hurt U.S. jobs in addition to Canadian ones. 

'The fact that the president has moved forward with these tariffs is not just going to hurt Canadian jobs. It's going to hurt U.S. jobs as well, and neither of those things is something that Canada wants to see.'

Trudeau responded to the administration's move by slapping retaliatory tariffs on $12.8 billion worth of U.S. goods, including metals, toilet paper, mayonnaise and handkerchiefs. EU leaders have also threatened a tariff counter-strike. 

 White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said Trudeau is 'overreacting.'

'To say that this is an attack on Canada is not right,' Kudlow told 'Fox News Sunday.' 

Trump fought back too. He argued in a tweet on Saturday that the U.S. is losing the trade war and something must be done about it.

'When you're almost 800 Billion Dollars a year down on Trade, you can't lose a Trade War! The U.S. has been ripped off by other countries for years on Trade, time to get smart!,' the president wrote on Saturday. 

The U.S. has a $8.4 billion trade surplus in goods and services with Canada, according to a report from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.

But looking at trade in goods alone, Canada has a surplus of $17.5 billion last year, according to the same USTR report.   

Trudeau is set to host Trump for the G7 summit next week in Quebec's Charlevoix region. 

He told NBC News he will try to one-on-one time with Trump during that meeting and said he wanted to 'have a frank conversation about where we can work together to grow our economies, to help Canadian workers and American workers who are working in the same, in the same way to build a better future for their families.'

Last year, the U.S. ran a $796 billion trade deficit with the rest of the world. China accounted for the largest share of the deficit, at $375 billion. 

Canada is America's largest source of imported steel, accounting for about 17 per cent of U.S. steel imports by volume.

However, some critics accuse Canada of buying cheap Chinese steel and flipping it in the U.S. for a profit, using NAFTA as a backdoor for China to avoid U.S. anti-dumping regulations. Canada denies the charge and last week launched a probe into Chinese steel dumping.

Canada is America's largest source of imported steel, accounting for about 17 per cent of U.S. steel imports by volume

When asked what President Trump wanted out of the new tariffs, Canadian Prime Minister told NBC's Chuck Todd: 'I don't know.'

The war of words shows no sign of abating and has been ongoing since last week when Canada was in negotiations to get an exemption on the tariffs.

Trudeau took aim at Vice President Mike Pence on Thursday as talks were ongoing, saying negotiations collapsed after a call with Pence in which the VP drew a red line under a five-year sunset for whatever deal is negotiated. 

Trump fired back in a statement that said Trudeau could take his offer or leave it, as far as the U.S. is concerned.

'The United States has been taken advantage of for many decades on trade. Those days are over. Earlier today, this message was conveyed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada: The United State[s] will agree to a fair deal, or there will be no deal at all,' Trump said in a statement distribute to press.

Trudeau said Thursday that prior to the phone call with Pence, 'I thought we were quite close to reaching an agreement.' 

 As such, he offered to come to Washington to finalize a deal with Trump.

'We already had the bones of a very good agreement for all parties, and I thought it might be opportune for all of us to sit down for a few hours and discuss it.' 

 Trudeau told NBC on Sunday that he knows Trump can be unpredictable.

'We've, you know, watched this president operate and worked with him over the past year. And we know that he prides himself on being unpredictable from time to time,' he said.

He also noted he thinks the two leaders, who famously shared an awkward handshake in February 2017 Oval Office meeting, have a good relationship. 

'I've had a constructive relationship with him and will continue to, and I'm standing up clearly for Canadian interests. But as I've said, Canada has a tremendous vested interest in seeing the United States do well because if we're doing well and you're doing poorly, we're going to be doing poorly too. We're that interconnected, so we want a win/win, and that's what we've been working toward,' he said.   

At the White House on Friday, the president's chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, called the dispute a 'family quarrel' that would ultimately be resolved.

'If you keep the lines of communication open, which everybody wants, this thing can work out,' he told DailyMail.com during a question and answer session.