President Trump reportedly commented on his past business dealings in Argentina on Friday while meeting with the country’s president, Mauricio Macri.
During a meeting with Macri, his first scheduled event of the day, Trump remarked that he once did business with Macri’s father during his time as a private businessman, according to USA Today.
{mosads}”I actually did business [with] his father,” Trump said of Macri, according to the newspaper. “That was in my civilian days.”
“We’ve known each other a long time,” he added, according to pool reports. “I’ve been friends with Mauricio for a long time.”
Trump told assembled pool reporters that the two men had many issues to discuss, including trade and military purchases, while calling the Argentinian president his “friend.”
“You’re my friend a long time and you’re doing an excellent job,” Trump said.
His comments came ahead of the president’s signing of a trade deal with the leaders of Mexico and Canada meant to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which Trump has long criticized.
Trump signed the trade deal Friday alongside the two other leaders. The pact will now go to the Senate for ratification.
The leaders are in Argentina for the Group of 20 (G-20) summit, where Trump is expected to huddle with several world leaders with the notable exception of Russia’s Vladimir Putin, with whom the president canceled a planned meeting on Thursday.