Trump warns U.S. allies on trade as he departs G-7

La Malbaie, Quebec (AP) — Exiting a world summit, 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. But the summit host, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose nation is among those singled out by Trump, pushed back and said he would not hesitate to retaliate against his neighbor to the south.

“If they retaliate, they’re making a mistake,” Trump declared before departing the annual Group of Seven summit being held in Canada to head for his meeting with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.

Trudeau later said he reiterated to Trump that tariffs will harm industries and workers on both sides of the U.S.-Canada border. He said unleashing retaliatory measures “is not something I relish doing” but that he wouldn’t hesitate to do so because “I will always protect Canadian workers and Canadian interests.”

Despite the sharp differences, Trudeau said all seven leaders had come together to sign a joint declaration despite having “some strong, firm conversations on trade, and specifically on American tariffs.”

Trump’s abbreviated stay at this Quebec resort saw him continuing the same type of tough talk on trade as when he departed the White House, when he accused Trudeau of being “indignant.”

The summit came during an ongoing trade dispute with China and served as a precursor to the unprecedented meeting with Kim, in which Trump has sought to extend a hand to the Asian autocrat who has long bedeviled the international order.

“His message from Quebec to Singapore is that he is going to meld the industrial democracies to his will — and bring back Russia,” said Steve Bannon, Trump’s former campaign and White House adviser. Bannon said China is “now on notice that Trump will not back down from even allies’ complaints in his goal of ‘America First.’”