Images of Mr Trudeau wearing blackface and brownface surfaced this week, soon after he launched his re-election campaign. Trump was asked about his thoughts on the scandal by reporters. The US President said: “I was hoping I wouldn’t be asked that question.
“I was surprised. And I was more surprised when I saw the number of times.”
He added: “I just don’t know what to tell you. I was surprised by it actually.”
Mr Trudeau was then asked about Trump’s reaction during a campaign stop in Toronto.
He said: “My focus is on Canadians who face discrimination every day.”
“Canadians who are racialised. Who live with intolerance and marginalisation as part of their daily experience, who I hurt.
“People who in many cases considered me to be an ally.”
The first image was from Mr Trudeau’s school yearbook picture, obtained by Time magazine, which showed him wearing a turban for an Arabian Nights-themed fancy dress party in Vancouver.
Mr Trudeau told reporters: “I’m pissed off at myself, I’m disappointed in myself.
“I shouldn’t have done it. I should have known better.
“It was something that I didn’t think was racist at the time but now I recognise it was something racist to do and I am deeply sorry.”
The image was shared by Vancouver businessman Michael Adams, who first saw it two months ago and felt it should be made public.
On Thursday another image emerged of him in blackface, dressed as Harry Belafonte to sing Banana Boat Song (Day-O) which is a Jamaican dock workers tune.
Later a news channel published a video of him on a third occasion with a black face and raising his hands while laughing, sticking his tongue out and pulling faces.
Asked how many incidents there may have been, he replied: “I’m wary of being definitive about this because the recent pictures that came out I had not remembered.”
He claimed he had already shared “the moments I recollected”.
Mr Trudeau added: “But I recognise that it is something absolutely unacceptable to do.
“And I appreciate calling it makeup, but it was blackface, and that is just not right.”
He told reporters how he was “more enthusiastic about costumes than is sometimes appropriate”.
Jagmeet Singh, leader of the New Democratic Party, said the image was “troubling” and “insulting”.
Mr Singh, a Sikh, added: “Any time we hear examples of brown face or black face, it’s making a mockery of someone for what they live and what their lived experiences are.
“Who is the real Mr Trudeau? Is it the one behind closed doors, the one when the cameras are turned off that no one sees? Is that the real Mr Trudeau? More and more, it seems like it is.”