Donald Trump said on Friday Russia should be attending the Group of Seven nations meeting, as he prepared to fly to Canada to attend part of the three-day conference.
The intervention, made on the White House lawn before he boarded Marine One was yet another bomb thrown at the summit after a series of rows.
Other leaders of the G7 are set to clash with Trump when they pressure him to lift sanctions on steel and aluminum they fear could lead to a trade war.
Trump is scheduled to leave early on Saturday for Singapore to prepare for a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Tuesday.
Donald Trump is planning to leave the G7 summit early – skipping the climate discussions – following a furious Twitter spat with French President Emmanuel Macron.
Where is Russia? Trump said he wanted to see Vladimir Putin at the G-7 summit – after a series of attacks on other leaders there, including Justin Trudeau and Emmanuel Macron
Relationship: The call for Putin to be at the G-7 will only underline questions over the nature of the relationship between Trump and the Kremlin strongman
Trump also attacked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, labeling him as ‘indignant’ and accusing him of damaging US agriculture, while complaining that both he and President Macron ‘are charging the U.S. massive tariffs.’
Macron fired back on Twitter that the summit did not need the US.
‘The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be,’ he wrote.
‘Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force.’
Donald Trump is leaving the G7 summit early – skipping the climate discussions – amid increasing animosity with his fellow world leaders
Trump attacked French President Macron who fired back on Twitter that the summit did not need the US: ‘The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be’
President Donald Trump fired a shot at U.S. allies France and Canada ahead of the G7 summit
Now Trump, who will meet with both Macron and Trudeau tomorrow, has announced he plans to leave the summit several hours early. The White House confirmed that he will depart mid-morning on Saturday, skipping the sessions on climate change and the environment.
A White House aide will take his place.
Trump reportedly even considered scrapping the visit to Canada entirely because he’d be outnumbered on issues like trade and climate change, sources told CNN.
The US president was also unhappy over Trudeau’s barbs about Canada’s better relationship with the US under Barack Obama.
‘Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things…but he doesn’t bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy — hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!’ Trump tweeted Thursday.
The tweet followed another, where he wrote that: ‘The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out.’
He concluded his message by writing: ‘Look forward to seeing them tomorrow.’
French Prime Minister Emanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have criticized Trump’s new tariff policy
French President Macron and President Trump had a close relationship. Trump and the first lady hosted the French president and his wife for their first official state dinner.
President Trump sat the tone for his meeting with world leaders with a tweet on Thursday
The summit starts Friday in Canada.
Trump will come face-to-face at the gathering in Charlevoix, Quebec, with world leaders whose views do not line with his on a range of issues from trade to the environment as well as Iran and the construction of a new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.
And his tweet sets a confrontational tone going into the gathering.
Macron has already arrived in Canada where he and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned Trump his actions had put his people’s ‘jobs on the line’.
The Canadian premier encouraged Trump to reconsider his decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.
‘American jobs are on the line because of his actions and because of his administration,’ Trudeau said on Parliament Hill in Ontario.
‘When we can underscore this, and we see that there’s a lot of pressure within the US, perhaps he will revise his position.’
Macron, who arrived in Ottawa on Wednesday evening for talks in advance of the summit, agreed.
‘A trade war doesn’t spare anyone,’ he said.
Macron and Trump have had a close relationship. Trump hosted the French president and his wife for his first official state dinner.
But relations have reportedly become tense since Trump made his decision to raise steel and aluminium tariffs on Mexico, Canada and the European Union.
Friday’s G7 meeting is expected to be tense as Trump takes one-on-one time with Macron, Trudeau and British Prime Minister Theresa May.
The president may find more success at his June 12 summit in Singapore with North Korean President Kim Jong-Un.
Its seems likely that the Trump will enjoy a warmer encounter with the autocrat from Pyongyang than with his Canadian hosts and European and Japanese allies.
Leaders like Trudeau and Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel admit it will be difficult to even agree on a joint communique at the two-day meeting.
The flames have already been thrown.
And Tommy Vietor, who served as President Obama’s national security spokesperson, retweeted Trump’s throw down with these words: “There’s just no reason to be an insufferable prick to our closest allies.”
Trump fumed at Trudeau during a contentious phone call on the administration’s new tariff policy, attacking Canada for burning down the White House – a feat performed by British troops in the War of 1812.
Canada didn’t exist for another 55 years – until 1867 when the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia came together to form the nation. Yet, Trump reportedly quipped to Trudeau during a call, ‘Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?’
Trudeau had been pressing Trump on how he could justify the new steel and aluminium tariffs as a ‘national security’ issue, CNN reported.
In response, Trump brought up the War of 1812 when British troops burned down the presidential residence on August 24, 1814. They also looted and set the U.S. Capitol building aflame.
Obama official Tommy Vietor criticized the president
Trump is scheduled to have one-on-ones with Macron and Trudeau at the G7.
Trump and Trudeau have been in a war of words since Trump announced his new tariff policy
Trudeau rebuffed U.S. claims the tariff hike was a national security issue
Trudeau has vocally slammed Trump’s reasoning for his new steel and aluminum tariff policies, saying it is ‘insulting and unacceptable’ to say Canada is a threat to the United States.
‘The idea that we are somehow a national security threat to the United States is quite frankly insulting and unacceptable,’ he said on NBC’s ‘Meet the Press’ on Sunday.
Trump last week allowed Canada and the European Union’s exemptions from steel and aluminum tariffs he introduced this spring to expire, which resulted in the U.S. imposing tariffs of 25 percent and 10 percent, respectively, on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.
Trump strummed the tune Wednesday that the U.S. has the ‘worst trade deals ever made’ that his administration is scrapping for ones that are ‘really fantastic.’
‘And we’re going to have now fair trade deals. We have made the worst deals ever made. NAFTA is a disaster,’ he said, referring to the existing deal between the U.S. Mexico and Canada. ‘World Trade Organization is a disaster. I could go deal after deal, and it’s been very unfair to our country, to our workers, to our companies, and to everybody else involved. And we’re changing them around rapidly.’
The U.S. has a $8.4 billion trade surplus in goods and services with Canada, according to a report from the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
But looking at trade in goods alone, Canada has a surplus of $17.5 billion last year, according to the same USTR report.