Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and French President Emmanuel Macron put Donald Trump on notice Thursday that they would not be intimidated at the upcoming G7 summit, as a trade war between Washington and its allies looms. Past summits of the Group of Seven powers - Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States - have often been marred by anti-globalist demonstrations in the host city.
But as the leaders of the world's richest democracies set off Thursday for Quebec on the eve of their annual meeting, the greatest threat to the liberal world order was due to be inside the fence. Trump comes to this week's G7 summit touting an America First agenda that hits US allies with stiff tariffs and threatens multilateral free trade deals. His stance will receive such a hostile reception from the other leaders that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1 - and Macron said they should not hesitate to reach agreements without Trump.
While both Macron and Trudeau have forged cordial relationships with Trump, they made it clear they would stand tall - especially in the face of US duties on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Europe, Japan and Mexico. "The G7 is an opportunity for us to get together and have frank, open discussions among nations who have long been allies and friends," Macron told reporters, with Trudeau at his side. "There will be subjects on which the (US) president is not totally in sync with the others - I'm thinking of course of climate change and trade," the French leader said.
"Our common goal is to try to find a text that can be signed by everyone," he explained, but added that "the desire to sign a common G7 declaration must not outweigh the need to be mindful of the content." "We Europeans and the Japanese are not ready to give up everything to get" Trump's signature, he said, adding that would be a "mistake." But Trump is not going to bend. "Getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade (we have the worst trade deals ever made)," he tweeted Thursday.
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