NPR

'Racist' And 'Shameful': How Other Countries Are Responding To Trump's Slur

The African Union was "frankly alarmed" by President Trump's comments. Haiti said they were "misguided," while the U.N. called them "racist." And across the world, officials are asking for clarity.
President Trump listens as Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg speaks at a joint news conference Wednesday. At an Oval Office meeting on immigration policy, Trump said the U.S. should want more people from countries like Norway, disparaging Haiti and what he called "shithole countries" in Africa.

Updated at 12:45 p.m. ET

One day after President Trump referred to African nations as "shithole countries," adding that the U.S. should want immigrants from countries such as Norway rather than Haiti or El Salvador, the countries that came in for the president's criticism are offering some responses of their own.

"We are surprised, disappointed. Also, we want to condemn if those statements were made," Paul Altidor, the Haitian ambassador to the U.S., told NPR on Friday.

He noted that neither the White House nor the State Department had formally contacted him to clarify whether Trump had indeed made the comments at an Oval Office meeting Thursday. The by a Democratic aide and another person familiar with the discussion.

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