Several of the leaders responded aggressively to Mr Trump’s demands, listing their own complaints about USA policies on tariffs and other trade measures, the official said.
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The president spoke at a spontaneous news conference at the G7 summit in Canada.
In an attack on Canada’s “very dishonest and weak” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Mr Trump revealed he was tearing up the agreed communique from the G7 gathering in Charlevoix, Canada.
Trump was departing the Canadian summit several hours early, heading to Singapore for his summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un on what he called a “mission of peace”.
A photo from the summit has emerged, that sums things up perfectly in one image, tweeted by Angela Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert.
By the time he sat face-to-face with Mr Macron on Friday, though, Mr Trump was publicly heralding “progress” on the very issues he had been grousing about.
“Naturally we can not force the U.S. to change their mind”, said Tusk, who is a former prime minister of Poland and is now president of the European Council.
“I would say that the level of relationship is a 10”.
Mrs Merkel can be heard laughing at the joke, before the two world leaders continue to talk away from the mic.
“I don’t blame other leaders for that”, Trump said.
Mr. Trump also delayed a one-on-one meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron, whom he feted with a state dinner at the White House in April. “If you give in now, he will come back tomorrow for more”. “It just got worse and worse and worse”.
According to Trump, who blamed the USA leaders who preceded him for the current trade deficits, the answer is a change in the entire global trading system. On Thursday, although he said it was important to remain civil, he signaled his intention to close ranks with other leaders. They know it. When I’m telling them, they’re smiling at me. When I’m telling them, they’re smiling at me.
Earlier, before setting off for Quebec, Trump had exacerbated the already yawning gulf between his position and that of Washington’s G7 allies by calling for Russian Federation to be re-admitted to the body, despite its occupation of Crimea. “Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!”, Trump tweeted on Friday. Obama can say all he wants.
“I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly, the United States’ move forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry”, began Trudeau. I mean, we have India, where some of the tariffs are 100 percent. “Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!” he added.
The tensions surrounding the tariffs underscore what appears to be a growing distance between the USA and its allies over Trump’s isolationist policies, including his decisions to withdraw from the Paris climate accord in 2017 and the Iran nuclear deal in May.
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Trudeau has his closing press conference this afternoon.
