G7 SUMMIT ENDS IN DISARRAY
The G7 summit has ended in acrimony, with US President Donald Trump lashing out at host Canada and retracting his endorsement of the joint statement.
He accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of acting “meek and mild” during meetings, only to attack the US at a news conference.
The summit, which ended on Saturday, was marred by disagreements over trade.
Mr Trudeau described as “insulting” Mr Trump’s decision to invoke national security to justify tariffs.
In a news conference after the summit, he vowed to press ahead with retaliatory moves on July 1.
“Canadians are polite and reasonable, but we will also not be pushed around,” he said.
Earlier, differences over the US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports had seemed to have been papered over in a joint communique which advocated a “rules-based trading system”. Tweeting en route to his next summit in Singapore, Mr Trump said he had instructed US officials “not to endorse the communique as we look at tariffs on automobiles”.
He said the move was based on Mr Trudeau’s “false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive tariffs to our US farmers, workers and companies”.
He suggested Mr Trudeau was “very dishonest and weak”. Mr Trudeau’s office said the prime minister had said nothing he had not said before, both in public and in conversations with Mr Trump.
Mr Trump had earlier signed the joint statement agreed by all the G7 nations despite the trade row.
He also tweeted defiantly about not allowing “other countries to impose massive tariffs and trade barriers on its farmers, workers and companies”.
Canadians are polite and reasonable, but we will also not be pushed around. Mr Trudeau described as “insulting” Mr Trump’s decision to invoke national security to justify tariffs. Justin Trudeau Canadian Prime Minister