TRUMP REMAINS BELLIGERENT AT G7, OTHERS PUSH BACK
WIDE GAP US president asks bloc to eliminate all tariffs, trade barriers, subsidies
LAMAL BAIE, QUEBEC: Exiting a world summit with characteristic bravado, President Donald Trump delivered a stark warning Saturday to America’s trading partners not to counter his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. Despite his sharp differences with US allies, the president insisted he has a “great relationship” with his foreign counterparts.
“If they retaliate, they’re making a mistake,” Trump declared before departing the annual Group of Seven summit in Canada for his meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.
The summit came during an ongoing trade dispute with China and served as a precursor to his unprecedented meeting with Kim, in which he has sought to extend a hand to the Asian autocrat who has long bedeviled the international order.
Speaking on Saturday during a rare news conference, Trump said he pressed for the G-7 countries to eliminate all tariffs, trade barriers and subsidies in their trading practices. He reiterated his longstanding view that the US has been taken advantage of in global trade, adding, “We’re like the piggy bank that everybody’s robbing and that ends.”
He said US farmers had been harmed by tariffs and other barriers and warned that US trading partners would need to provide him with more favorable terms. “It’s going to stop or we’ll stop trading with them,” he said.
Trump cited progress on reaching an agreement on the North American Free Trade Agreement with Canada and Mexico, saying the final outcome would lead either to an improved trade deal or separate pacts with the two US neighbours. Trump said he was discussing two types of sunset provisions in which any of the countries could leave the deal. A Canadian official said the leaders discussed accelerating the pace of the talks.
Prior to his arrival, Trump had suggested the G-7 take back Russia, which was ousted in 2014.