Once the G7 summit ended, US President Donald Trump suddenly decided to withdraw his support for the final communiqué on trade issues.
US President Donald Trump has turned around this weekend against his allies in Europe and Canada, which he threatened with increased customs duties , after a G7 summit that ended in a fiasco.
Tensions that contrast with the “unity” displayed at a summit in China including the heads of Chinese, Russian and Iranian against a backdrop of trade and diplomatic tensions with the United States.
Because of Justin Trudeau?
On Saturday, Donald Trump abruptly withdrew his support for the final communiqué of the two-day summit in La Malbaie (eastern Quebec, Canada), despite the trade-offs that had been forged on trade issues.
He and his delegation had, however, endorsed this 28-point document, which had been painfully negotiated by the “Group of Seven” (United States, Canada, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Japan).
Donald Trump has justified the snub inflicted on the old allies of the United States by Justin Trudeau, the host of the summit, during his closing press conference.
The Prime Minister of Canada, a country hit like Europe and the rest of the world by new US customs duties on steel and aluminum, reiterated on this occasion that these taxes were “insulting”, with regard to the history between the two countries. Like the European Union, he confirmed retaliation for July.
“Canadians are polite and reasonable, but we will not let ourselves be jostled.”
A few hours later, stung by these words, the billionaire tweeted from Air Force One that he had ordered his representatives to remove the US seal of the final communiqué.
Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
He also called Justin Trudeau a “dishonest and weak” person … when he said the day before that the bilateral relationship had never been so good in the history of both countries.
Above all, Donald Trump renewed his threat of tariffs on European and foreign cars imported into the United States. A sector that weighs much more than the two metals hitherto struck.
No comments
Emmanuel Macron was also questioned about the possibility that Donald Trump changed his mind and launched despite the G7 in a trade war. “If he is consistent with his bilateral declarations and what he has signed, there will no longer be a unilateral negative measure,” said Emmanuel Macron.
“This is the intellectual and logical conclusion I draw from it.”
The G7 leaders had left La Malbaie when Donald Trump decided to tear up the final agreement of the summit. At first, none commented. Mr. Trudeau’s cabinet merely recalled that the Prime Minister had only repeated, during his press conference, what had already been said.
Among other areas of contention, the G7 rejected Donald Trump’s proposal to reinstate Russia in the club, which was ruled out in 2014 due to the annexation of Crimea, calling on Moscow to stop “undermining democratic systems”.
Donald Trump will land around 8:00 pm local time in Singapore on Sunday (12:00 GMT), for another summit, with Kim Jong Un, and for which he said he was “really confident”.
