U.S. President Donald Trump planned to leave the summit of the Group of Seven wealthy nations on Saturday before it discussed climate change and the health of oceans, underlining fractures in the G7 exacerbated by U.S. trade tariffs.
The six-plus-one tone of the gathering in Quebec means the leaders from Canada, Britain, the United States, France, Germany Italy and Japan are unlikely to issue a joint statement, too sharply divided on trade or the environment to reach consensus.
Still, a French official said on Friday the United States and European Union will establish a dialogue on trade within the next two weeks, signalling a modest step forward for the bitterly divided allies of the G7.
The two-day summit in Canada has been marred by fears of a trade war and tit-for-tat exchanges of hostile tweets, with U.S. trading partners furious over Trump’s decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from Canada, the European Union and Mexico as part of his “America First” agenda. Some countries have retaliated with their own levies on U.S. imports.
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