On CNN’s “Table for Five,” host Abby Phillip said Donald Trump and the White House had described Canada as more hostile to the U.S. on trade than China, setting off a heated dispute with conservative commentator Jason Rantz.
The argument began after Adam Mockler criticized Trump for welcoming Chinese President Xi Jinping during a state visit that week, saying Trump was more adversarial toward Canada. Phillip pointed to Trump’s remarks to reporters last month calling Canada the worst country to trade with and saying it had felt “emboldened” amid the trade war.
Rantz said Trump’s comments about Canada addressed specific issues and were being taken out of context, adding that Trump had called China the U.S.’s greatest threat. Phillip said the comparison was about trade and asked whether Trump had campaigned on China as the biggest economic adversary; Rantz replied that he still believed that.
