G7 leaders photo duel exposes power play TRUMP’S TRADE FURY TORPEDOES G7 SUMMIT
■ All official photos show respective heads leading talks
Quebec City, June 10: The G7 summit was coming down to the wire. The leaders of the world’s richest democracies had promised a compromise statement despite their deep divisions on trade. However, one photograph seemed to capture the power games being played out at the event.
Donald Trump is seated amid a crowd of officials. Across a narrow table, Angela Merkel and Emmanuel Macron are standing, holding copies of a draft text, arguing for their position. Five official photos presented five opposing stories.
The first view outsiders got of the scene was at 10.45 am when White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders released a photo inside the room.
In the US version, Trump is seen calm, leaning back confidently with a sarcastic air, his arms crossed in a rebuff to the other leaders, bent towards him pleadingly.
Ten minutes later, the French president’s office responded with a photo of an opposing angle showing Macron negotiating with his American counterpart. The other leaders have fixed him with their regard, apparently fascinated.
Merkel’s press team responded with a photo showing her dominant. It caught the imagination of the web, and the German version went viral all on social media.
Italian premier Giuseppe Conte’s version was relatively humble, as he was in the job for just three days. Quebec City, June 10: The G7 summit ended in farce and a renewed threat of global trade war on Sunday 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 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 had 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 back on the ground.
“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 Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the US Market!” Trump tweeted.