Trump under fire for rejecting joint G7 communiqué
US Senator John McCain has attacked President Donald Trump after he threatened to impose new tariffs on Canada and rejected a joint communiqué issued at this weekend's G7 summit.
On Saturday, Trump tweeted that he had instructed US officials not to endorse the communiqué during the summit in Quebec.
The US president retracted his initial endorsement of the joint statement following "false statements" by Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. At a news conference, Trudeau said Canada would move forward on July 1 with retaliatory tariffs to answer for Trump's "illegitimate" tariffs on aluminum and steel.
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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
Hours later, McCain said in a tweet that Americans would continue to stand with US allies and support free trade regardless of Trump's position.
To our allies: bipartisan majorities of Americans remain pro-free trade, pro-globalization & supportive of alliances based on 70 years of shared values. Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t.
— John McCain (@SenJohnMcCain) June 10, 2018
Meanwhile, members of Democratic leadership also took a sharp jab at Trump for reversing his endorsement of the joint communiqué.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Trump’s earlier calls for Russia to be reinstated in the group.
Are we executing Putin’s diplomatic and national security strategy or AMERICA’s diplomatic and national security strategy? After the last few days, it’s hard to tell.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) June 9, 2018
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi also chided Trump for “standing up for Russia and alienating our allies at the G7.”
Tensions were running high between Trump and the other world leaders over the recently implemented US tariffs on steel and aluminum imports that the president imposed on key allies, including Canada.
Trump claimed America had been obliged to levy the metal tariffs as it has been exploited as the world's "piggy bank" under existing arrangements, but his counterparts were equally determined to protect "rules-based" international trade.
The US president had also slammed America's Western trading partners, saying "all of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade."
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