Trump in fiery mood over G7 ‘fool trade’
US PRESIDENT Donald Trump fired off a volley of tweets yesterday venting anger on Nato allies, the EU and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in the wake of a divisive Group of Seven meeting over the weekend.
The escalating clash regarding trade between Washington and some of its closest global partners cast a cloud over Trump’s efforts to make history in nuclear talks in Singapore today with Kim Jong-Un of North Korea, one of America’s bitterest foes.
Having left the G7 summit in Canada early, Trump’s announcement that he was backing out of the joint communiqué torpedoed what appeared to be a fragile consensus on the trade dispute between Washington and its top allies.
“Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal,” said Trump, who flew from Canada to Singapore on Sunday to prepare for the first-ever summit between a US and North Korean leader.
“Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!”
The communiqué, which had appeared to have papered over the cracks that surfaced so uncharacteristically at the G7, said the leaders of the US, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan were agreed on the need for “free, fair and mutually beneficial trade” and the importance of fighting protectionism.
“We strive to reduce tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers and subsidies,” said the statement, which came despite Washington appearing intent on taking more punitive steps on trade.
Trump’s extraordinary outburst yesterday against Nato allies, the EU and Canada appeared aimed at striking a chord with voters who support his “America First” agenda.
At the same time, however, it put Trump in the position of going into a crucial summit at odds with countries he needs on his side to pressure North Korea to move towards dismantling a nuclear arsenal that threatens the US.
“Not fair to the people of America! $800 billion trade deficit,” he said. “Why should I, as president of the US, allow countries to continue to make massive trade surpluses, as they have for decades, while our farmers, workers and taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay?”
It was left to Trump’s aides to figure out how to explain Trump’s airing of grievances against trading partners instead of focusing on his coming talks with Kim, which the president’s supporters hope will provide him with a major foreign policy win.
Irritants
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised European countries for helping to bring about the North Korea summit, alluding to their enforcement of sanctions against Pyongyang. He expressed confidence that US relations with other G7 countries would continue to move forward, despite the weekend clash in Canada.
“There are always irritants in relationships,” Pompeo told reporters. He dismissed as “ludicrous” the notion that Kim would decide he could not trust the US because of the G7 dispute.
White House spokesperson Raj Shah said Trump was “rattling the cages right now on trade”, insisting there was no reason to believe there would be any negative fallout for the North Korea summit. “These are really unrelated baskets of issues.”
But one US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged: “The timing for all this is not very good at all.”
The prospect that Trump could be moving towards an even greater protectionist trade policy is likely to chill financial markets worried about tit-for-tat escalation that could lead to a full global trade war.
Trade adviser Peter Navarro said on Sunday “there is a special place in hell for any leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy” with Trump. – Reuters