News Analysis |
When the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, was talking to media about the success of the G7 summit which Canada hosted this year, President Donald Trump was tweeting otherwise. Following the climax of the G7 summit, Mr. Trudeau was talking about the diplomatic and economic understanding which all the countries have reached. He did mention the disagreement he had with U.S president over the issue of tariffs on the import of steel and aluminum which the USA buys from Canada, Mexico, and other European countries.
The communique stated all the agreements, at the end of the discussion, were signed by every participating country including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, except the United States of America.
“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!” Mr. Trump wrote in a Tweet. “PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @g7 meetings,” Mr. Trump said in a second Tweet, “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 Trump left the conference early to board Air Force One for Singapore where he will be meeting the supreme leader of North Korea Kim Jong-un in two days in a historic summit.
Ahead of his departure, Trump criticized his predecessors for negotiating “unfair” trade deals.
“The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades,” Trump told reporters, reiterating his long-standing view that Washington has been exploited for too long by existing trade arrangements. “I congratulate leaders of other countries for so crazily being able to make these trade deals so good for their countries,” Trump said while insisting that his relationships with Europe and Canada were “outstanding.”
Read more : G7 ministers criticize US tariffs and warn of trade war
Following his presidential campaign rhetoric, Donald Trump is determined to adjust U.S’s Balance of Trade, which has been negative given the shifting of manufacturing industries to countries like China where labor is cheap.
The United States experiences a current account deficit between $500 billion to $800 billion each year. Trump decided to slap Canada, the European Union, and Mexico with steel and aluminum tariffs.
Trade experts and lawmakers have repeatedly denounced Trump’s push for a trade war with America’s major allies as a “reckless” maneuver that could end up costing the U.S. hundreds of thousands of jobs.
Trump has used the reason of “national security” while bumping up the tariffs, which the allies deem absurd. The Canadian Prime Minister responded to this ambiguous reason in an interview in these words, “One of the things that I have to admit I’m having a lot of trouble getting around is the idea that this entire thing is coming about because the president and the administration have decided that Canada and Canadian steel and aluminum is a national security threat to the United States.”
Trudeau also noted the long history of military and diplomatic partnership between the countries. “Our soldiers have fought and died together on the beaches of world war two and the mountains of Afghanistan and have stood shoulder to shoulder in some of the most difficult places in the world, that are always there for each other, somehow – this is insulting to that,” said Trudeau. “The idea that the Canadian steel that’s in military vehicles in the United States, the Canadian aluminum that makes your fighter jets is somehow now a threat.”
Read more : Chorus of condemnation intensifies in U.S. over trade tariff
France along with other EU countries has decided to maintain their support for the final G7 communique. “Let’s be serious and worthy of our people. We make commitments and keep to them,” a statement from the French presidency quoted by AFP news agency said. “International co-operation cannot be dictated by fits of anger and throwaway remarks,” it added. Germany also said it would abide by the communique. The British Prime Minister Therese May also criticized the discourse Trump administration has been pursuing with United States’ traditional allies.