Macron Calls on G7 Members to Confront Trump Over Trade
- Macron Calls on G7 Members to Confront Trump Over Trade
by Julian Borger in Quebec City, https://www.theguardian.com/international
French president warned G7 members to resist a potential US drift toward ‘crude hegemony’ following Trump’s tariffs on allies
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Emmanuel Macron has called on other members of the G7 to stand up to Donald Trump’s trade policies in the face of what he described as the threat of a new US “hegemony”.
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The French president was speaking alongside the Canadian prime minister, Justin Trudeau, who is hosting the G7 summit in Quebec amid sharp disagreements between the US president and the six other leaders of industrialized liberal democracies over trade, climate change and the nuclear deal with Iran.
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Macron called on other G7 leaders not to water down a joint communique at the end of the summit, at the expense of shared values, simply in an effort to win Trump’s signature, warning that a “G6 plus one” outcome was possible.
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The challenge brought a tweeted response from Trump, claiming Macron and Trudeau’s governments were pursuing unfair trade practices at the expense of US producers. “Look forward to seeing them tomorrow,” he signed off sardonically. In a second tweet he said Canadian trade policy was “killing our Agriculture.”
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Even under the North American Free Trade Agreement, Canada and the US have had long-running disputes about subsidies, tariffs and restrictive practices. In particular the US has complained about access for its dairy products, and Canada says the US imposes unfair tariffs on its lumber exports. Ottawa has called for the disputes to be resolved by arbitration, and points out that Canada is the biggest market for US agricultural exports, and second biggest market for dairy exports.
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