The G7 summit ended in farce and a renewed threat of trade war on Saturday as US President Donald Trump rejected an attempt to write a consensus statement and bitterly insulted the Canadian host.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Saturday said he had instructed his representatives not to endorse a joint communique put out by the Group of Seven leaders after what he called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s “false statements” at a news conference.
Trump left the G7 summit in Canada early, then wrote on Twitter that Trudeau’s remarks, including that his country would not be pushed around, “were very dishonest and weak.”
Just minutes after a joint communique that had been approved by the other leaders of the Group of Seven allies was published, Trump launched a Twitter broadside from aboard Air Force One.
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
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
“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!” the U.S. president tweeted.
Earlier, Trudeau had told reporters that Trump’s decision to invoke national security to justify US tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum was “insulting” to Canadian veterans who had stood by their US allies in conflict’s dating back to World War I.
Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and G7 leaders Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May, France’s President Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel, and U.S. President Donald Trump discuss the joint statement following a breakfast meeting on the second day of the G7 meeting in Charlevoix city of La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada.
“Canadians are polite and reasonable but we will also not be pushed around,” he said.
All the group’s leaders had spoken publicly about the summit and the Canadian government had issued the communique when Trump’s tweets were posted.
The US leader had left the summit early en route for Singapore and a historic nuclear summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, only to take exception to comments made by Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau at a news conference on the ground in Quebec.
