France has denounced president Trump’s decision not to sign the final communiqué of the G7 summit, warning that international co-operation “cannot be dictated by fits of anger and throwaway remarks.”
The office of the French president said that France would continue to abide by the joint statement signed at the end of the summit, adding: “Let’s be serious and worthy of our people. We make commitments and keep to them.”
As the two-day G7 came to a close in Canada, president Trump withdrew his support for the joint communiqué, hours after appearing to endorse it.
PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
In a flurry of tweets sent from Air Force One on his way to Singapore, Mr Trump lashed out at Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau calling him “dishonest and weak,” and accusing him of misrepresenting facts at his final press conference. He said he had ordered his officials not to sign the final statement that traditionally marks the end of the summit.
“PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @g7 meetings, only to give a news conference after I left saying that, ‘US Tariffs were kind of insulting’ and he ‘will not be pushed around.’, “ he tweeted. “Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!””
Another tweet announced that he had instructed his officials not to sign the final statement “based on Justin’s false statements,” while also threatening to put tariffs on auto imports into the United States.
The tweets were delivered hours after Mr Trump departed Quebec on a flight to Singapore where he is due to hold a historic summit with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un on Tuesday.
Mr Trump’s about turn came hours after he claimed the meeting had been “tremendously, tremendously successful,” rating his relationship with the leaders of Canada, France and Germany as a “ten.” But as he left Quebec he also lashed out at “ridiculous and unacceptable” tariffs on American exports, claiming that the United States had been a “piggy bank” for everyone else.
“It’s going to stop,” he said, “or we’ll stop trading with them. And that’s a very profitable answer, if we have to do it.” He added, “We’re like the piggy bank that everybody’s robbing - and that ends.”
Mr Trump’s description of the Canadian prime minister as “weak and dishonest” marks an extraordinary intervention by a sitting US President, given Canada and the United States’ long military and economic alliance.
Mr Trudeau’s spokesman gave a guarded response to the comments, stating that Canada was focusing on everything that had been accomplished at the summit, and adding that Mr Trudeau said nothing he hadn’t said before during the summit.
But earlier in the day Mr Trudeau said that Canada would “not be pushed around” by the United States.
Tensions between Donald Trump and America’s key allies overshadowed a two-day meeting of G7 leaders in Canada where America’s recent trade measures against European and Canadian imports dominated discussion.
Mr Trump says his tariffs are meant to protect US industry and workers from unfair international competition as part of his “America First” agenda.
The prospect that he could be moving toward an even greater protectionist trade policy is likely to chill financial markets worried about tit-for-tit escalation that could lead to a full-blown global trade war.
Mr Trump has announced tariffs of up to $150 billion on Chinese goods over US complaints of Beijing’s trade practices and its alleged theft of US technology. China has vowed to retaliate in equal measure.
Canada, Mexico and the EU also are moving ahead with their own levies on US goods.
But tariffs on US imports of cars and auto parts would devastate the Canadian auto industry, which is highly integrated with the US sector. They could also damage Japan and Germany.
The Trump administration announced two weeks ago that it would investigate whether auto imports hurt US national security, the first step toward tariffs similar to the ones he imposed on steel and aluminium imports last week.
Mr Trump, who made a brief stop-over in Crete on Air Force One on his way to the summit, is due to arrive in Singapore on Sunday night ahead of his meeting with Kim Jong-un.
