Trump rant

To say a la Trump that the G7 summit was anything but contentious is to deny the harsh and bitter exchange between the US president and his counterparts over tariffs. Trump’s grievances about the trading system and how prejudicial it supposedly is to the US will continue to reverberate across the continents where America does business for a long time to come. By the time the US leader recited a shocking litany of recriminations against his country’s top trade partners  -- which were intended to be music to the ears of American voters but highly out of tune at the world summit – there wasn’t much room left for courteous French or Japanese rebuttals. Trump’s parting words at the Quebec summit were full of warning that Canada’s, Japan’s and the EU’s gig was over. Allegations of overexploitation at the hands of these partners could only be countered with more determination to protect the international system of regulations.

Instead of hearing his trade partners out, Trump declared victory from the encounter, claiming the other G7 leaders had understood the need for balancing things out. Perhaps the only thing left unspoken by the US trade partners was the prospect of retaliatory measures in response to Trump’s move to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports. The US leader proposed entirely free trade in the G7 zone but the EU in particular was clearly not interested. The reason: there are just too many regulations and no-tariff barriers that block out chances of free trade now or ever. France is a case in point. It currently has open borders with Britain and Germany but runs trade deficits with both.

Politically, Trump seemed to cut a lonely and isolated figure. Germany and the others quickly shot down Trump’s suggestion to readmit Russia following its 2014 suspension into the G-7 fold.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, June 11^th, 2018

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