Trump wants Putin to be brought back to G7 as he lashes out again
US President Donald Trump has injected fresh drama into an already tense meeting of the G7 nations as he called for Russia to be reinstated.
Mr Trump made the comment at the White House after hours of further escalating his rhetoric against longtime allies over US trade practices.
He said: “Why are we having a meeting without Russia in the meeting? They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”
The US leader, who plans to leave the meeting of major industrialised nations early, also lashed out at long-standing allies over their criticism of his trade policies.
Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for Vladimir Putin’s annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-russian separatists in Ukraine.
In the US, special counsel Robert Mueller is investigating whether Mr Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia in a bid to sway the 2016 presidential election in his favour.
He will arrive at the annual gathering, held this year in Quebec, but will leave on Saturday morning before the event is over, heading to Singapore for his highly anticipated summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The White House announced his travel plans after French president Emmanuel Macron and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau signalled they would use the G7 event to take a stance against new US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
Mr Trump tweeted: “Looking forward to straightening out unfair trade deals with the G-7 countries. If it doesn’t happen, we come out even better.”
He also singled out tariffs on US dairy products in yet another scathing tweet directed at Canada just before the meeting.
At a joint press conference, Mr Macron said: “A trade war doesn’t spare anyone. It will start first of all to hurt US workers.”
The Canadian PM, for his part, said Mr Trump’s action would hurt American workers as well as Canadians.
Mr Trudeau said: “We are going to defend our industries and our workers.” He added: “If I can get the president to actually realise that what he’s doing is counterproductive for his own goals as well, perhaps we can move forward in a smarter way.”
Mr Trump retorted via Twitter: “Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the US massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers.
“The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow.”
Later, the US president tweeted: “Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things...but he doesn’t bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy - hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!”
A few hours later, he added: “Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!”
Mr Trump will skip G7 meetings about climate change, clean energy and ocean protection.
Meanwhile, co-operation between Russia and China is at an all-time high, Russian president Vladmir Putin told his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping. Mr Putin spoke during a meeting ahead of a summit in Beijing featuring their two countries and six Asian states.
The Russian leader said: “Co-operation with China is one of Russia’s top priorities and it has reached an unprecedented level.”
Mr Xi said the two countries have “always firmly taken the development of relations as a priority direction”.
They have “resolutely supported the other’s core interests ... and jointly, proactively participated in international affairs and global governance,” the Chinese president said.
Russia and China have responded to the US national security strategy describing them as America’s top adversaries by vowing to further expand their economic, political and military co-operation.
They have also sought to strengthen the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, a regional grouping they created, which meets this weekend.
Further underlining the relationship’s importance, the visit comes just a month since Mr Putin began his new term in office. He and Mr Xi have met 25 times –five times last year alone, according to Mr Putin’s foreign affairs adviser, Yuri Ushakov.
Following a formal welcoming ceremony at the Great Hall of the People in central Beijing, Mr Putin first with China’s premier Li Keqiang, telling him that Russia-china trade and economic ties have “gained a good tempo, and we are looking for new spheres of co-operation”.
Mr Li said bilateral trade is expected to reach $100bn (£74bn) this year and voiced a readiness to expand co-operation in both traditional and new spheres, including nuclear energy.
Bilateral trade shrank from $100bn in 2014 to $60bn the following year due to a sharp depreciation of the Russian currency. It has since partly recovered as the rouble has strengthened, reaching $90bn last year.