Trump struggles to paper over split with allies
The president touted great relationships with other G-7 leaders — but the divide over Russia and trade burst into view at the summit.
By ANDREW RESTUCCIA and BRENT D. GRIFFITHS 06/09/2018 02:37 PM EDT
President Donald Trump rated his relationship with G-7 leaders a perfect 10 on Saturday morning — but by the afternoon, the deep divide between the United States and some of its closest allies was on full display.
With Trump long gone from the high-profile summit in Canada, the remaining six nations — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom — were set to wrap up the meeting without him and release a joint statement that papered over divisions on trade. And even as he insisted he gets along just fine with his G-7 counterparts, Trump further ostracized himself, arguing that Russia should be invited back into the exclusive international group and threatening to cut off trade relations with the G-7 nations if they don’t rethink what he says are unfair trade practices.
"The G-8 is a more meaningful group than the G-7," Trump told reporters in a free-wheeling press conference before departing the continent for his historic meeting with Kim Jong Un.
Trump did little to hide his distaste for the summit from the outset — arriving late to the summit on Friday and missing his first scheduled meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron and then joining a Saturday breakfast on gender equality after it had already started.
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https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/09/trump-g7-allies-clashes-trade-tariffs-russia-635006
= new reply since forum marked as read
and a host of wraiths and demons rise up howling from the sulfurous-stinking depths, seize him, and then drag him back to their fiery underworld lair
Just my guess
