Trump derails G7 compromise

POSSIBILITY OF TRADE WAR LOOMS AGAIN US president reneges on consensus and insults Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

The G7 summit ended in farce and a renewed threat of global trade war as US President Donald Trump abruptly rejected the text of a consensus statement and bitterly insulted the Canadian host.

Just minutes after a joint communique on Saturday that had been approved by the leaders of the Group of Seven allies was published in Canada’s summit host city Quebec, Trump launched a Twitter broadside from aboard Air Force One.

The US leader left the meeting early en route for Singapore and a historic nuclear summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, only to take exception to comments made by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a news conference.

“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive tariffs to our US farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our US representatives not to endorse the communique as we look at tariffs on automobiles flooding the US market!” Trump tweeted.

“PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that ... he ‘will not be pushed around’. Very dishonest & weak.”

Earlier, Trudeau told reporters that Trump’s decision to invoke national security to justify US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports was “insulting” to Canadian veterans who had stood by their US allies in conflicts dating back to World War I. “Canadians are reasonable, but we will also not be pushed around,” he added.

He said he had told Trump “it would be with regret, but with firmness that we move forward with retaliatory measures on July 1, applying equivalent tariffs to the ones that the Americans have unjustly applied to us”.

The outburst against Trudeau, and by association the other G7 members, is the latest incident in which Trump has clashed with America’s closest allies.

French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said yesterday “international cooperation cannot be dictated by anger and throwaway remarks”.

Reneging on the commitments agreed in the communique showed “incoherence and inconsistency”. When Trump left Quebec it was thought that a compromise had been reached, but his outburst later suggested that any deal had collapsed. – AFP