From what I've read so far, here's what I think happened at the G7. Trump goes to the G7 and threatens to end all trade with nations that refuse to end “unfair” trade practices and then shocks the heck out of everyone by calling for tariff-free TOTALLY FREE TRADE among all the countries. Trump rattles all the G7 nations with a startling proposal that all the nations DROP all their tariffs and trade restrictions. The biggest free trader of them all! Now what do they do? That's really going to mess with the media's "Trump is a protectionist" narrative!
“I don’t know if they were surprised with President Trump’s free-trade proclamation, but they certainly listened to it and we had lengthy discussions about that. If they thought they were going to lecture Trump on the glories of free trade, they got a rude awakening. He came to a gun fight armed with a stealth bomber.”
Trump tells the G7 that America wants reciprocal tariffs or none at all. He tells the G7 that American farmers and businesses won't be penalized any longer. He tells the G7 that America won't be the world's piggy bank any longer. Merkel agrees with Trump and says the devil is in the details. Trump also pushes for Russia to be reinstated into the G8. "We're running the world here and Russia should be at the table."
Trump says that America’s trading partners would be making a mistake if they retaliated against new U.S. tariffs.
“If they retaliate they’re making a tremendous mistake because you see we have a tremendous trade imbalance. The numbers are so much against them, we win that war 1000 times out of a 1000.”
All seven nations agree to sign a communique, which outlines a shared commitment to work on a variety of economic, social, environmental and security issues. The language on trade is general, with an acknowledgement that “free, fair and mutually beneficial trade and investment are key engines for growth and job creation” and a promise to “develop new rules where needed to foster a truly level playing field.” In other words, nothing substantive. Typical bureaucratic meaningless BS. It also includes a slap at Russia, calling on Moscow "to cease its destabilizing behavior to undermine democratic systems and its support of the Syrian regime.”
Then, after Trump’s departure from the G7, Trudeau holds a press conference to slam Trump and "show him" who's boss! Trudeau states that all of the member nations, including the U.S., have signed a communique pledging to lower tariffs and other trade barriers and that he was insulted by President Trump's tariffs on aluminum and steel. “I highlighted directly to the president that Canadians did not take it lightly that the United States has moved forward with significant tariffs on our steel and aluminum industry,” he said. Trudeau says his country will answer the US tariffs with levies of its own on July 1 unless Trump changes his mind.
Angry that Trudeau was grandstanding and did not make those statements to him personally at the conference, President Trump retracts his endorsement of the joint statement and threatens to mess with Canadian auto imports while on the plane to Singapore:
"Based on Prime Minister Justin Trudeau'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! Justin acted so meek and mild during our G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!"
-President Trump
Trudeau responds weakly: “We are focused on everything we accomplished here at the G7 summit. The prime minister said nothing he hasn’t said before — both in public, and in private conversations with the president.”
Canada put a 270% tariff on dairy and messed with regulatory rules to artificially inflate prices in Canada. So why the big show with steel? Because this is how they all beat the previous US administrations. President Trump is not afraid to get TOUGH on behalf of the American worker!
Canada put a 270% tariff on dairy and messed with regulatory rules to artificially inflate prices in Canada. So why the big show with steel? Because this is how they all beat the previous US administrations. President Trump is not afraid to get TOUGH on behalf of the American worker!
Trudeau hates Trump. He thought these childish shenanigans would be a cool way to "get him." Team Trudeau is high-fiving right now - and getting love from every journalist, Globalist and US Democrat for clickbait headlines. But Trudeau has released the kraken: Trump is now coming for Canada's auto industry, that exports a million more cars to the U.S. than we import. Hope it was worth it.
If Trudeau is willing to take Canada into a trade war against the United States, maybe he should have built pipelines to tidewater -- Northern Gateway, Energy East & Trans Mountain. He derailed those three, so Canada is 100% dependent on the U.S. as their sole oil customer. Trudeau is not acting in Canada's best interests. Not smart at all. Trudeau knows that Canada needs America more than America needs Canada. He will lose.
Trump offered a tariff-free G7. If tariffs on the U.S. are the same as what the U.S. has on others, why didn’t Macron and Trudeau welcome and accept it? Because they know G7 countries have higher tariffs on the U.S. than what the U.S. has on them. They don’t want it to change.
Trump wants the US to charge other countries what they charge the US. It’s not free trade what’s going now; it’s crazy trade. The US subsidizes their various industries to the tune of $880 Billion annually due to pork barrel politics. To suggest a tariff-free G7 without a serious rollback of those subsidies is a non-starter. Will Congress give up what gets them elected? Not without some serious swamp draining, folks.
Larry Kudlow on Trudeau's press conference after the G7: "Trudeau really kind of stabbed us in the back with his amateurish attack. He did a great disservice to the whole G-7. Trudeau's comments were a betrayal and sophomoric. We negotiated in good faith. I personally negotiated with Prime Minister Trudeau. They have enormous tariffs.”
Director of Trade Policy Peter Navarro on Justin Trudeau:
"There's a special place in hell for any foreign leader that engages in bad faith diplomacy with President Donald J. Trump and then tries to stab him in the back on the way out the door. And that's what bad faith Justin Trudeau did with that stunt press conference. That's what weak, dishonest Justin Trudeau did. And that comes right from Air Force One.
And I'll tell you this, to my friends in Canada, that was one of the worst political miscalculations of a Canadian leader in modern Canadian history. All Justin Trudeau had to do was take the win. President Trump did the courtesy to Justin Trudeau to travel up to Quebec for that summit. He had other things, bigger things on his plate in Singapore. And what did Trudeau did -- do as soon as -- as soon as the plane took off from Canadian airspace, Trudeau stuck our president in the back. That will not stand.
Canada's high tariffs on American dairy products, and planned retaliatory tariffs, are an attack on our political system. And as far as this retaliation goes, the American press needs to do a much better job of what the Canadians are getting ready to do because it's nothing short of an attack on our political system and it's nothing short of Canada trying to raise its high protectionist barriers even higher on things like maple syrup and other goods."
The rest of the story:
In the days leading up to the G7 summit, Trudeau and his socialist cronies took a big hit in Canada when Doug Ford’s conservative movement won in the Ontario Province.
Therefore, for political reasons, Trudeau needed a G7 win. He needed to upstage conservative U.S. President Trump and get him to sign-on to the G7 communique, giving the summit the appearance of influence and success. Then he stabbed Trump in the back and Trump took his win away. Bravo!
Doug Ford's populus victory returned the Conservatives to power in Ontario after 15 years in opposition.
