Trump's disrespect in the G7 summit makes his priorities crystal clear
In one of the most important diplomatic meetings in the world, the U.S. president showed his impertinence regarding fundamental discussions for the…
We all knew that this weekend in Quebec would be delicate. What nobody expected was that the whims of President Donald Trump would put (even more) at risk the position of the United States in international politics.
After a week of disagreements with his until then "friend" French President Emmanuel Macron and with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over the imposition of tariffs on imports of steel and aluminum to U.S. commercial allies, Trump attended a meeting with a unified front against him.
The G7, or Group of Seven, is an international organization that puts world's largest economies at the same table to make joint decisions aiming for a consolidated global policy on issues such as trade, foreign relations, environment, and labor.
Although the guidelines for joining the group don’t have an objective standard - it is rather an agreement between common policies - the member countries try at all costs to keep the world on a fixed course with respect to the prevailing ideologies in the West.
Since the beginning of his political campaign, Trump has flaunted his intentions to approach less traditional governments - Russia, China and now North Korea - threatening his historical allies in a position that many consider as "immature" and even "rebellious.”
This became more evident this past weekend when the president, knowing that the other members were together in opposition to his economic measures, broke protocol and disrespected the priorities of the group just before meeting with one of the most alienated leaders in international politics, Kim Jong-Un.
The U.S. president not only came late to the first meeting - missing the opportunity to meet with President Macron to try to smooth things over - but also arrived late for breakfast the next day to discuss gender equality issues, CNN reported.
In this way, Trump "avoided the most uncomfortable moments of the meeting," including the debates about global warming and other issues in which he has made clear his opposition.
The icing on the cake was his threat to "end all trade with any nation" that doesn’t agree with his policy of "unfair trade" against the United States, putting again his allies against the ropes.
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Adding to this tension, Trump insisted on advocating for the reincorporation of Russia to the group, again demonstrating his ignorance of international political history and overlooking the fact that Moscow has never apologized for the annexation of Crimea - which is why it was expelled of the convention - and that most countries in the world recognize the Kremlin as an autocratic system of government.
After the Canadian prime minister's statements to the media once the meeting ended - in which he reiterated his opposition to Trump's economic tariffs and his decision to impose retaliation measures starting in July - the U.S. president closed with a flourish his weekend of rudeness by refusing to sign the joint statement of the group, unleashing a great wave of rejection from the international community.
Based on Justin’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!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 9 de junio de 2018
"With one Tweet, an unsettling amount of trust can be very quickly destroyed," said German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass.
In its response, the French government expressed its disagreement saying that "anyone departing from the commitments made at the summit would be showing their incoherence and inconsistency," Radio Free Europe reported.
"International cooperation cannot depend on being angry and on sound bites. Let's be serious, "the official said.
Meanwhile, President Trump is in Singapore preparing for a historic meeting with the leader of North Korea, who must make a monumental effort to believe in the word of a man who challenges even his oldest allies, based only on an ego consecrated to his personal whims.
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