TRUMP, G- 7 CLASH ON TRADE, CLIMATE
President tells group’s leaders he wants ‘ reciprocal’ relationships
TAORMINA, ITALY President Trump urged world leaders to do more to fight terrorism and make changes in their trade policies during a high- profile summit Friday, while members of the Group of Seven tried to talk Trump into staying in a global agreement designed to address climate change.
During a daylong series of meetings among the world’s most industrialized nations, juggling thorny foreign policy challenges such as North Korea, Russia and Syria’s civil war, Trump made time to protest what he called unfair practices by other countries, including Germany.
National Economic Council Director Gary Cohn said Trump told fellow G- 7 leaders he wants “reciprocal” trade relationships, which means: “You treat us the way we treat you, or we’ll treat you the way you treat us.”
White House aides also sought to walk back comments Trump made about Germany during a Wednesday meeting with European Union officials in Brussels. The president described the Germans — also members of the G- 7 — as “bad, very bad” on trade policy, especially with regard to car imports, which he promised to curtail.
“He said they’re very bad on trade, but
he doesn’t have a problem with Germany,” Cohn said, adding the president and his team “have a problem with German trade.”
German papers such as Der Spiegel reported Trump told European leadership, “Look at the millions of cars they’re selling in the U. S. Terrible. We will stop this.”
This appears to ignore the fact that the U. S. can’t negotiate a deal with Germany alone; it has to deal with the entire EU since Germany is a member state. Chancellor Angela Merkel reminded Trump of this when they met in March.
G- 7 summits are designed to let world leaders discuss mutual problems while in relaxed settings — in this case, the coast of Sicily, withMount Etna, an active volcano, looming in the distance.
The festivities included a flyover featuring jets leaving behind large plumes of smoke in white, red, and green— the colors of the Italian flag.
Afternoon meetings among G- 7 leaders — representing Germany, Japan, Italy, Canada, France, and the United Kingdom, as well as the United States— were closed to the media.
After an entire day of meetings, the Trump administration made only one specific announcement: It has no plans to reduce economic sanctions on Russia over its military aggressiveness in Ukraine.
“We’re not lowering our sanctions on Russia,” Cohn said. “If anything we would probably look to get tougher on Russia.”
Trump left on his foreign trip amid headaches over Russia, a former G- 7 member.
Last week, the Justice Department announced it had named a special counsel to investigate possible links between Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and Russians who tried to undermine the election by hacking Democrats. Trump and aides have denied any collusion, and Trump has described the investigation as a “witch hunt.”
Russia was a member of the G- 7 club, then called the G- 8, but it was expelled in 2014 over its annexation of the Crimea region of Ukraine, and its continuing military activities in that country are likely to be a topic of discussion at the weekend’s summit. Some G- 7 members also have accused Russia of trying to disrupt elections in their countries, including Germany, France and the United Kingdom.
Kicking off the summit in this seaside Sicilian village, Trump also met one- on- one with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe about another topic of global concern: The threat posed by North Korea’s nuclear weapons.
The U. S. and Japanese leaders agreed to work with South Korea and other countries to “enhance sanctions” on North Korea by focusing on entities that support its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.
“It’s a big problem, it’s a world problem,” Trump said. “It will be solved at some point. It will be solved.”
National security adviser H. R. McMaster also said Trump put an emphasis on terrorism following this week’s attacks on children inManchester, England, and Minia, Egypt. He urged global colleagues to contribute to a coalition designed to move out the Islamic State from areas it now occupies and to cut off financing for all kinds of terrorist groups.
Other countries, meanwhile, have criticized the Trump administration for threatening to withdraw or pull back from various international agreements, from multi- lateral trade deals to the climate change pact negotiated in Paris in 2015.
Cohn said Trump spent Friday learning as much as he can about climate change from his G- 7 partners, but would make his final decision on Paris based on what is best for the United States.