Updated

White House Director of Trade Policy Peter Navarro apologized Tuesday for saying there was a “special place in hell” for Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau -- calling his language “inappropriate.”

Navarro made the fiery remarks on “Fox News Sunday” after Trudeau held a post-G7 press conference in which he said that Canada will not be “pushed around” by the United States, and called Trump’s tariffs on steel and aluminum “unjust.”

"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door," Navarro said.

"And that's what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That's what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did. And that comes right from Air Force One."

THERE'S A 'SPECIAL PLACE IN HELL' FOR TRUDEAU, NAVARRO SAYS 

But Navarro apologized for the remarks Tuesday, according to The Wall Street Journal, saying that he had tried to send a signal of strength.

"In conveying that message I used language that was inappropriate and basically lost the power of that message. I own that, that was my mistake, my words," he said at a Journal conference. 

Trump had made similar remarks late Saturday, accusing the Canadian leader of acting “meek and mild” during talks, before ther press conference.

“Very dishonest and weak,” he said.

White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow on Sunday also accused Trudeau of having “stabbed us in the back” and engaging in a “sophomoric, political stunt for domestic consumption.”

Fox News' Gregg Re contributed to this report.