Trump Threatens To End Trade With United States’ Closest Allies

“As Canadians we are polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around”.

But after leaving for Singapore, Trump tweeted personal attacks on Trudeau and said that he had told his representatives not to sign the summit communique, turning what had already been a tense meeting of the world’s leading industrialised democracies into a fiasco.

The attack shattered any hope that Canada could avoid US tariffs on steel and aluminum or renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement by virtue of the charm, patience or measured response it has extended to Trump since he took office.

One of Trudeau’s themes for Canada’s G7 chairmanship was gender equality and empowering women and girls. Morneau said progress is being made, but more work needs to be done to conclude the negotiations. “So you go tariff free, you go barrier free, you go subsidy free, that’s the way you learned at the Wharton School of Finance”.

Trudeau had announced on June 1 that Toronto will levy tariffs on USA products worth about $13 billion (approximately Rs 87,426 crore) from next month. Canada and Mexico are also taking action in retaliation. “He is a thug using Soviet-style aggression to wage a shadow war against America, and our leaders should act like it”.

But their facts, figures and plaintive explanations – including about Europeans’ love of Apple iPhones, or that there can be trade imbalances between countries in the EU’s single market that have zero tariffs between them – fell on deaf ears. Canada is focused on maintaining a trilateral pact, the official said.

“This is what a G7 is supposed to be about – all of us pulling together and doing things that matter for our citizens and for the world”, Trudeau said.

Trump’s about-face sparked dismay and anger among Canadian and American free trade advocates alike.

At least three of Trump’s fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate, all frequent critics of the president, assailed his suggestion of readmitting Russian Federation to the group.

A French presidential source said Trump’s proposal did not seem “coherent” in view of the latest economic sanctions imposed by the United States on Moscow.

But by insisting on re-negotiating every five years, Trump is diametrically opposed with Canada, which says the sunset clause would create perpetual uncertainty and harm long-term investment.

Macron also threatened to leave Trump out of the G7 alliance.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel sat between Macron and Trump on a sofa, while Trudeau sat to the left of the U.S. president.

Trudeau refused, and the meeting was off.

In retrospect, the consensus on ground had appeared shaky from the outset, and even as Trump flew out it was clear that the summit had failed to heal the rift on trade. “And that’s a very profitable answer.”.

He later said, “It’s going to stop, or we’ll stop trading with them”. Canadian officials explained that the United States and Japan did not sign on because they did not want to commit to firm targets to reduce plastics. “I’m not looking to play that game”.

He also denied the summit had been contentious, a remark that contradicted what one G7 official described as an “extraordinary” exchange on Friday in which Trump repeated a list of trade grievances, mainly concerning the European Union and Canada.