Washington: United States President Donald Trump will depart from his visit at the Group of Seven summit in Canada several hours early on Saturday.
The development reportedly comes after Trump had a spat with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over Twitter, both of whom he will meet face-to-face on Friday.
Trump will directly fly to Singapore for his much-awaited meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, scheduled to take place on June 12, and will skip sessions on climate change and the environment.
The US President will depart the G-7 summit mid-morning on Saturday after a session on women’s empowerment. A White House aide will represent the U.S. for the remainder of the summit; the Hill quoted White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, as saying.
Earlier in the day, Trump lashed out at Trudeau and Macron in a series of tweets over the criticism on U.S’ imposition of trade tariff.
“Why isn’t the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S. Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies. Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!,” Trump tweeted on Friday.
Why isn’t the European Union and Canada informing the public that for years they have used massive Trade Tariffs and non-monetary Trade Barriers against the U.S. Totally unfair to our farmers, workers & companies. Take down your tariffs & barriers or we will more than match you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2018
“Prime Minister Trudeau is being so indignant, bringing up the relationship that the U.S. and Canada had over the many years and all sorts of other things…but he doesn’t bring up the fact that they charge us up to 300% on dairy – hurting our Farmers, killing our Agriculture!,” Trump wrote in another tweet.
In another Twitter post, Trump wrote, “Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the U.S. massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers. The EU trade surplus with the U.S. is $151 Billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow.”
On May 31, the US had announced the imposition of 25 and 10 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum respectively on three of its biggest trading partners – Canada, Mexico and the European Union (EU).
Thereafter, Trudeau dubbed the trade tariffs as ‘insulting and unacceptable’ and announced that the country would impose its own tariffs on US’ goods in retaliation.
Meanwhile, Macron tweeted, “The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be. Because these 6 countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force.”(ANI)