US President Donald Trump on Saturday warned Washington's trading partners against imposing tariffs on countermeasures on steel and aluminum.
"We had extremely productive discussions on the need to have fair and reciprocal — meaning, the same. People can’t charge us 270 percent and we charge them nothing. That doesn’t work anymore," Trump praised the trade relations.
Leaders of the G7 agreed in a joint statement on trade despite differences with the US president.
French President Emmanuel Macron indicated that this is an important stage, but despite that, "it is only a phase, so we plan to continue our work in the coming months."
On Saturday, France announced that talks on the statement at the summit were heading "in the right direction" and that there was a strong possibility that the seven countries would sign the joint statement, which would of course indicate disagreement with Washington over the climate agreement.
Speaking at a press conference before leaving the Canadian city, Trump said that if the countries retaliate, they’re making a mistake.
The US President praised his relations with German, French and Canadian leaders saying: "I would say that the level of relationship is a 10. We have a great relationship. Angela and Emmanuel and Justin."
Trump described the proposal for no tariffs and no subsidies as a great thing
"We have to — ultimately, that’s what you want. You want a tariff-free, you want no barriers, and you want no subsidies, because you have some cases where countries are subsidizing industries, and that’s not fair. So you go tariff-free, you go barrier-free, you go subsidy-free. That’s the way you learned at the Wharton School of Finance. I mean, that would be the ultimate thing. Now, whether or not that works — but I did suggest it ," he asserted.
Trump left the summit and will travel to Singapore, where he is expected to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on Tuesday.
Trump told G7 leaders that the United States needed fair access to markets and an end to unfair trade practices.
"We tackled a variety of issues and opportunities facing our nations. At the top of the list was the issue of trade — a very important subject — because the United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades, and we can’t do that anymore," he told reporters.
Macron responded to Trump's comments saying the French prefer German cars, according to diplomatic sources in the summit. Earlier, Trump made a comment complaining the unfair rise of EU customs on US-made cars.
Macron explained to Trump that the trade balance deficit was not necessarily related to customs, pointing to significant imbalances in the trade balance even within the European Union.
Trump threatened to pursue German carmakers until there are no Mercedes-Benz rolling down New York’s Fifth Avenue dented shares in the luxury car manufacturers.
Trump's departure means he will not attend the group's meetings on climate change, the environment and key issues that his administration largely ignores. Trump angered his G7 counterparts last year by withdrawing from the Paris climate agreement.
Before the summit, President of the European Council Donald Tusk said EU members of the Group of Seven, including Italy’s new Prime Minister Guiseppe Conte, will present a "united front" on all issues to be discussed at the summit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Foreign Minister Haiku Mas voiced their rejection once again of Russia's return to the group.
Russia recently expressed a lack of interest in returning to the group. Russian President Vladimir Putin is instead betting on the G20, which includes China and India, for example.
G7 in briefThe Group of 7 is an informal gathering of major power states and was established in 1975 to discuss economy and other issues, such as peace, environment and terrorism. This year, the meeting began with tension over tariffs imposed by President Trump who asked to bring Russia back to the group, which was a member of the group between 1998 and 2014 and was excluded after the annexation of the Crimea.
The group held its first meeting in Rambouillet, France, in 1975 after the first oil shock. France, Britain, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States participated in the first meeting of the Group of Six, which Canada later joined.
The initiative came from then French President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
In 1983, the Williamsburg Summit adopted for the first time a declaration on the security of Europe. The text endorsing US President Ronald Reagan's policy was approved despite reservations by French President Francois Mitterrand. The disintegration of the Soviet Union came to completely change the landscape. In 1998, Russia, which was a guest in 1992, took part for the first time in all the summit meetings of the G8 group.
As of 1999, the G8 has been criticized as a "club for the rich." That is why major powers have come established with emerging nations G-20 to try to resolve or avoid these crises.
In 2014, Russia's membership in the G8 was suspended after it annexed Crimea. The G-8 summit in Russia was canceled that year, and the G8 became G7..
In 2017, the G7 unity was broken because of the climate issue at the first summit attended by Donald Trump and held in Sicily. Days later, the US president decided to withdraw from the Paris climate deal.
