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Trump’s UN Handshake With Trudeau Suggests Lingering Resentment

The two mingled near each other but didn’t speak before Trump sat down for lunch.

Trump’s UN Handshake With Trudeau Suggests Lingering Resentment
Justin Trudeau, Canada’s prime minister, left, with U.S. President Donald Trump. (Photographer: Kevin Dietsch/Pool via Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- If body language at a UN luncheon is any hint, Justin Trudeau is still in Donald Trump’s doghouse.

The U.S. president and Canadian prime minister attended the same luncheon at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, but it was hardly a warm encounter. The two mingled near each other but didn’t speak before Trump sat down for lunch. Trudeau then approached Trump, standing behind him without the president appearing to acknowledge him. Trudeau tapped him on the shoulder and the men shook hands in a brief exchange. Trump didn’t stand up.

Later, Trump’s other Nafta partner, Mexico’s Enrique Pena Nieto, came by and the U.S. president stood to shake his hand. Trump also stood to greet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Trump spoke to both for longer than he did Trudeau.

The UN encounter comes as the countries bear down on a U.S. deadline for a new Nafta pact, but they remain divided on a handful of core issues. Trump and Trudeau initially had a warm relationship, before the Group of Seven summit in June where Trump erupted after a Trudeau press conference.

To contact the reporters on this story: Toluse Olorunnipa in Washington at tolorunnipa@bloomberg.net;Josh Wingrove in Ottawa at jwingrove4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Chris Fournier, Stephen Wicary

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