President Donald Trump slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as ‘meek and mild’ on Saturday while declaring that he won’t endorse a joint statement drafted by G7 leaders following their summit in Quebec.
After boarding a flight for Singapore, where he will meet North Korea’s Kim Jong-un for a historic summit, Trump tweeted: ‘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!’
Trump then tweeted: ‘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!
President Donald Trump slammed Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as ‘meek and mild’ on Saturday while declaring that he won’t endorse a joint statement drafted by G7 leaders following their summit in Quebec
Leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized nations agreed at the conclusion of their summit on Saturday on the need for ‘free, fair, and mutually beneficial trade’ and the importance of fighting protectionism, their communique said.
‘We strive to reduce tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers and subsidies,’ the leaders said in a statement after a meeting that focused heavily on trade fights between the United States and its allies.
Trump was reacting to comments made by Trudeau on Saturday in which he threatened to torpedo negotiations on a new NAFTA deal if the Americans did not remove tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum.
Trudeau said he told Trump directly that Canada ‘particularly did not take lightly the fact that [the tariffs were] based on a national security reason.’
The prime minister said: ‘Canadians are polite, we’re reasonable, but we also will not be pushed around.’
His comments were reported by CTV.
In this photo made available by the German Federal Government, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, center, speaks with U.S. President Donald Trump, seated at right, during the G7 Leaders Summit in La Malbaie, Quebec
Leaders of the G7 nations on Saturday papered over the cracks in their alliance at a summit in Canada but came away with little more than an agreement to disagree on trade, as Trump defiantly brandished his ‘America First’ agenda.
Trump, who repeated that his tariffs are meant to protect U.S. industry and workers from unfair international competition, told reporters he had suggested to the other G7 leaders that all trade barriers, including tariffs and subsidies, be eliminated.
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 EU and Canada.
Trump, who last week slapped tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico, left the Group of Seven summit early but not before threatening to cut off trade with countries that treated the United States unfairly.
‘We’re like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing,’ he said at a press conference as his G7 counterparts continued their two-day meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, and officials hammered out a joint communique.
‘This isn’t just G7. I mean, we have India, where some of the tariffs are 100 percent … And we charge nothing,’ Trump said.
‘And it’s going to stop. Or we’ll stop trading with them.’
Trudeau on Saturday rejected a U.S. demand for a sunset clause in NAFTA but said he was prepared to compromise on the issue, which is holding up talks to update the 1990s-era pact.
Trump – who regularly threatens to pull out of the North American Free Trade Agreement – insists that Canada and Mexico agree to a sunset clause that would allow a member nation to withdraw after five years.
Although Canada and Mexico say the idea is unworkable, Trump told reporters earlier on Saturday that the new deal would contain such a provision. Trudeau rejected the idea.
‘There will not be a sunset clause … we will not, cannot sign a trade deal that expires automatically every five years,’ he told a news conference at the end of a Group of Seven summit in Quebec.
‘I think there are various discussions about alternatives that would not be that, and that would not be entirely destabilizing for a trade deal, and I think we are open to creativity,’ he said.
This, he suggested, could involve ‘a check in and a renewal.’
Officials say Canada and Mexico have proposed member nations gather every five years to review the treaty.
Talks to modernize NAFTA, which started last August, have effectively stalled as Canada and Mexico resist U.S. demands for major changes such as the sunset clause and boosting the North American content of autos made in the three nations.
Trudeau said he had told Trump that the talks had been made more complicated by a U.S. decision to impose tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, ostensibly for national security reasons. Canada has promised retaliatory measures on July 1.
‘I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs,’ said Trudeau.