Leaders of the G7 nations spent Friday hunting for a face saving formula to mask the deep rift inflicted on the Western alliance by US President Donald Trump\u2019s assault on global trade rules.<\/p>\n
Senior figures, including Trump, suggested that some kind of joint statement on the need to jointly re-examine commercial relationships might be found before their summit ends on Saturday.<\/p>\n
But no consensus document will conceal the damage inflicted by the US leader\u2019s aggressive imposition of tariffs on what had been some of Washington\u2019s closest allies.<\/p>\n
Summit host Canada\u2019s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau sided with his European and Japanese colleagues against the US leader and his \u201cillegal\u201d levies on steel and aluminum imports.<\/p>\n
Apparently reveling in a rift that threatens to spiral into a trade war, Trump stirred the pot by declaring before the talks began that he would like to see Russia re-admitted to the club.<\/p>\n
But this apparently spontaneous suggestion \u2014 rejected out of hand by the other allies \u2014 did not make it to the summit table, where instead the leaders confronted Trump\u2019s assault on the world trade system.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve made a lot of progress today. We\u2019ll see how it all works out, but we\u2019ve made a lot of progress,\u201d Trump said, sitting by Trudeau after talks that an official said were marked by \u201cstrong disagreement\u201d but \u201cnot heated.\u201d<\/p>\n
France\u2019s President Emmanuel Macron also put a brave face on the encounter.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we had a very open and direct discussion this afternoon, we\u2019ve always had this kind of discussion. And I think on trade, there is a critical path, there is a way to progress altogether,\u201d he said, speaking in English.<\/p>\n
Trump has invoked a US national security provision to unilaterally impose tariffs on imports of foreign steel and aluminum, to the outrage of his allies, who have retaliated with a threat of their own, more targeted, sanctions.<\/p>\n
European leaders met separately Friday ahead of the G7 summit in La Malbaie, a golf resort north of Quebec City, and presented Trump with a united front \u201cbacked by facts and figures\u201d to counter his charge, officials said.<\/p>\n
Trump said he hoped a final summit communique would be agreed, and officials were to work late into the night, while the leaders enjoyed a campfire chat and circus acts.<\/p>\n
Ahead of the encounter, the allies made no secret of their anger at Trump\u2019s stance, pointed starkly to fears that he is undermining the rules-based world order and driving former US friends into a damaging trade war.<\/p>\n
European leaders warned Trump\u2019s stance on trade, climate, Iran and \u2014 now \u2014 Russia was setting him apart, and Canada firmly rejected the tariffs threat and threatened retaliation.<\/p>\n
Donald Tusk, president of the European Council, said that Trump\u2019s determination to bait his allies over trade and diplomatic engagements \u201cwould only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Canada\u2019s Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed outrage that Trump had invoked a national security justification for his global tariffs, even on imports from close US allies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are very clear that Canada does not pose a national security threat to the United States,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo this an illegal act. It is absolutely unjustified. We have already raised cases at the WTO and at NAFTA, and we will retaliate,\u201d she warned.<\/p>\n
\u2013 Fundamental freedoms \u2013<\/p>\n
Trump was the last G7 leader to arrive and will probably be the first to leave on Saturday when he sets off for his nuclear summit with North Korea\u2019s Kim Jong Un in Singapore.<\/p>\n
With unmistakable symbolism, the fractious Western democracies were meeting on the same day that China\u2019s President Xi Jinping welcomed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin to Beijing.<\/p>\n
And at the same time as western nations are at loggerheads, the US president seems more at home with autocrats than with Washington\u2019s traditional allies.<\/p>\n
The summit is being held at a luxury resort more than two hours\u2019 drive from the provincial capital, where more than 400 protesters faced off Thursday and Friday against police.<\/p>\n
Previous G7 summits have seen large-scale anti-globalization protests, but Trump was a main target of the demonstration as masked anarchists set fire to US flags and those of other G7 nations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Leaders of the G7 nations spent Friday hunting for a face saving formula to mask the deep rift inflicted on the Western alliance by US President Donald Trump\u2019s assault on global trade rules. Senior figures, including Trump, suggested that some kind of joint statement on the need to jointly re-examine commercial relationships might be found […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":93451,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7863],"tags":[19416,15402,38833,19130],"class_list":["post-93450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english-section","tag-donald-trump","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-g7-nations","tag-us-president"],"yoast_head":"\n