Trade adviser Peter Navarro just did something very rare for a Trump official: Apologize

(Image credit: Getty Images)

published 12 June 2018

President Trump's trade adviser Peter Navarro broke the insult-o-meter Sunday, suggesting there was "a special place in hell" for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Now he's walking those comments back.

Navarro, the president's director of trade and industrial policy, is a big backer of Trump's recent tariffs on Canada, China, and the EU. So when Trudeau channeled his inner Hugh Grant to declare Canada wouldn't "be pushed around" by American tariffs, Navarro viciously slammed Trudeau in response:

Navarro reversed those harsh words Tuesday while speaking at a Wall Street Journal-sponsored event, saying he "used language that was inappropriate" while trying to convey "a signal of strength," Bloomberg reports. "I own that, that was my mistake, those were my words," Navarro said.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Turns out saying sorry isn't just a Canadian thing.

Explore More

Kathryn is a graduate of Syracuse University, with degrees in magazine journalism and information technology, along with hours to earn another degree after working at SU's independent paper The Daily Orange. She's currently recovering from a horse addiction while living in New York City, and likes to share her extremely dry sense of humor on Twitter.