Last Friday and Saturday the 2018 G7 summit took place in Canada. There was a conflict between Trump and the remaining 6 world leaders from before the summit even began, so unsurprisingly, the event ended in even more discontent.
The US President verbally attacked the other leaders on many counts, especially over Twitter. He stated that the United States has an even worse trade deficit with the European Union than it does with China, pointing to the prevalence of German cars in the States. The EU and Canada reaffirmed their statements regarding imposing tariffs on goods imported from the United States to compensate for Trump’s tariffs, which in their view disrupt the balance of global trade. President Trump, however, got angry that countries are retaliating against his tariffs, calling this sort of reaction unfair. As a result, he refused to sign the G7 joint communique, a summary of agreements usually reached by the end of each G7 summit.
Trump’s decision was harshly criticized by members of the Senate (including Republicans) and politicians from the EU and Canada. One possible result from this would be that the European Union strengthens its relations with Canada and Japan and relies far less on the United States from now on.
