Trudeau says Canada trying to end arms contract with Saudi Arabia

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Sunday said Canada is looking into ending sales of armored vehicles to Saudi Arabia as pressure builds following the murder of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi. 

“We are engaged with the export permits to try and see if there is a way of no longer exporting these vehicles to Saudi Arabia,” Trudeau told Canadian television network CTV, according to The Globe and Mail.

{mosads}Trudeau’s comments come after he said in October that he was unlikely to cancel the sales.

“I do not want to leave Canadians holding a billion-dollar bill because we’re trying to move forward on doing the right thing,” he said of the Saudi deal at the time.

But Canada and other countries have faced increased pressure to end arms sales to Saudi Arabia following the murder of Khashoggi and amid criticism of the deadly civil war in Yemen.

Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, was killed inside the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in October. The CIA has reportedly concluded with high confidence that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing. 

The U.S. has faced pressure to end its own arm sales to Saudi Arabia since the slaying, but President Trump has maintained that he will not do so.

Trump, who has refused to condemn Saudi Arabia or the crown prince over the killing of Khashoggi, has said that ending those sales would result in significant job losses in the U.S.