Donald Trump pulls United States out of G7 joint statement, attacks Canadian PM Justin Trudeau
The G7 joint communique advocated a ‘rules-based trading system’, but Trump said he will not withdraw hefty tariffs imposed on steel and aluminium imports.
United States President Donald Trump on Saturday withdrew his endorsement of a joint statement released at the end of the G7 summit held in Canada and accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of being dishonest.
“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 [representatives] not to endorse the communique as we look at tariffs on automobiles flooding the US market,” Trump said in a tweet late on Saturday. Tariffs on automobiles may be aimed at another G7 member, Germany, according to PTI.
The Group of Seven nations that make up the G7 are Canada, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan and Italy. On Friday, Trump said that Russia should be part of the G7 summit. Following the G7 summit in Canada’s Quebec, Trump is en route to Singapore where he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
In a second tweet, Trump said that Trudeau acted “meek and mild” during the G7 summit and that the US tariffs were in response to Canada’s 270% tariff on dairy products. The US had imposed hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from key allies the Europe Union, Canada and Mexico last week.
The G7 joint communique, which advocates a “rules-based trading system”, was reached despite tension over US tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, reported BBC.
After Trudeau said he was “happy to announce that we have released a joint communique by all seven countries” indicating that the US had signed on, Trump announced that the US would reverse its decision and not sign on to the statement after all.
Trudeau also said that Canada will go ahead with retaliatory tariffs from July 1, according to CNN. Trudeau had announced on June 1 that Toronto will levy tariffs on US products worth about $13 billion (approximately Rs 87,426 crore) from next month.