World leaders condemn Trump remarks

Global leaders are denouncing President Trump’s reference to “shithole countries,” calling it inaccurate and racist amid bipartisan backlash to the comment from U.S. lawmakers.

Trump reportedly aimed the reference at Haiti, El Salvador and a number of African nations that lawmakers suggested be put back on a list for Temporary Protected Status, giving immigrants from the countries extended protection from deportation.

Haiti’s Ambassador to the U.S. Paul Altidor said he and the Haitian government “vehemently condemn” Trump’s comments, which he said were “based on stereotypes.” 

Altidor, who attended college in the U.S., said the president was either “misinformed” or “miseducated” about the nation, while Haiti’s former Prime Minister Laurent Lamothe said the remark was “totally unacceptable” and a “new low” for Trump. 

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Ghana’s president also took offense to the president’s remarks, insisting that his country “will not accept such insults.”

“The language of @realDonaldTrump that the African continent, Haiti and El Salvador are ‘shithole countries’ is extremely unfortunate. We are certainly not a ‘shithole country,’ ” President Nana Akufo-Addo said in a tweet. “We will not accept such insults, even from a leader of a friendly country, no matter how powerful.”

Other nations demanded answers from U.S. officials on the president’s comments, which were made in a closed-door meeting on immigration in the Oval Office on Thursday.

Botswana’s government said in a press release Friday that it had asked the U.S. government through its ambassador to “clarify” if Botswana was considered one of the “shithole countries.” 

The government called the remarks “reprehensible and racist,” and has summoned the U.S. ambassador to Botswana to “express its displeasure.” 

A spokeswoman for the African Union, an international body representing all African nations, said it was “frankly alarmed” by reports of Trump’s vulgarity toward African countries. 

“This is particularly surprising as the United States of America remains a global example of how migration gave birth to a nation built on strong values of diversity and opportunity,” a spokeswoman told The Associated Press.

El Salvador President Salvador Sánchez Cerén reportedly said that he “protests and energetically reject those types of statements.” 

Trump has denied that he said anything “derogatory” about Haitians and accused Democrats of making up comments attributed to him, saying Friday he has a “wonderful relationship with Haitians.”