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Hurling insults at those who criticise him has long been a signature strategy of Donald Trump, and this year has been no different.
From trade wars, to the Russia probe and a certain cancelled visit in France over the rain, it’s fair to say that Trump hasn’t had the best year. And naturally, he has reacted by going on the offensive.
While former presidents would have held back from attacking the leaders of nations that have traditionally been closely allied to the US, this is definitely not the case with Trump.
As 2018 draws to a close, here are some of Trump’s worst insults to world leaders over the past year.
On Trudeau:
At the end of the G7 summit in June, Trump wrote a Tweet describing the prime minister of Canada “very dishonest and weak" and "meek and mild".
His jibes came after Justin Trudeau described Trump’s decision to impose steep tariffs on metals imported from Canada as “insulting”.
On Macron:
When the French president Emmanuel Macron suggested in November that Europe need to build a "real European army" to protect itself from Russia, China and the United States, Trump decided to attack Macron's "low approval rating".
He then went on to mock France as a country for its performance in the First and Second World Wars.
But at least Macron won the handshake war against Trump this year.
On May:
In his first visit to the UK Trump said that Theresa May had "wrecked" Brexit in an interview with the Sun in July. He said he’d personally given May advice on how to do a Brexit deal but she'd ignored his recommendations, calling her decision “very unfortunate.”
Adding insult to injury, he said that Boris Johnson would make a “great prime minister”.
Trump also snubbed May in June when he listed Merkel, Macron and Trudeau as key allies in his G7 speech - but missed out May.
On Merkel:
Although Trump and Angela Merkel have never exactly had a comfortable relationship, in June he took things one step further by tweeting that the people of Germany were "turning against their leadership".
Then in a bizarre move, the president reportedly three Starburst sweets at Merkel during a G7 meeting and said: "Don't say I never give you anything".
On Putin:
While Trump has maintained an unusually positive relationship with the Russian president, in April he criticised Putin over his support for Syria's president Bashar al-Assad.
Following a chemical weapons attack allegedly carried out by Assad’s forces, Trump tweeted that Putin was “responsible” for the deaths of “women and children” in the “mindless” assault.
On Rouhani:
In perhaps his most explosive tweet to date directed at a world leader, Trump warned the president of Iran Hassan Rouhani of "consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before".
His tweet came after Rouhani gave a speech, in which he said that war with the US would be “the mother of all wars.” However, the Iranian leader also insisted that “peace with Iran is the mother of all peace”.
Looks like Trump still hasn’t quite mastered the Art of the Insult.
More: Emmanuel Macron has won the handshake war against Trump
More: Donald Trump says crime in Germany is up - but it's at its lowest level for 25 years
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