MONTREAL: Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hit out Monday at US President Donald Trump's Twitter remarks telling US congresswomen of color to "go back" to where they came from.

"That is not how we do things in Canada," Trudeau said when asked about Trump's comments.

"A Canadian is a Canadian is a Canadian. And the diversity of our country is actually one of our greatest strengths and a source of tremendous resilience and pride for Canadians."

In comments widely condemned as racist in the US media and by Democratic opponents, Trump accused congresswomen who "originally came from countries whose governments are a complete and total catastrophe" of "viciously telling the people of the United States, the greatest and most powerful Nation on earth, how our government is to be run."

Trump didn't initially name the targets of his ire but he was widely interpreted to be referring to four progressive freshman Democrats who are all women of color and US citizens. Three were born in the US and the fourth came to the country as a child.

"Why don't they go back and help fix the totally broken and crime infested places from which they came. Then come back and show us how it is done," Trump tweeted. —AFP