President Donald Trump said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel were waiting for a final draft of a joint statement by G-7 leaders when an iconic photograph was taken over the weekend showing the two leaders in what appeared to be a confrontation.
“We finished the meeting, really, everybody was happy, and I agreed to sign something,” Trump told reporters at a news conference following his summit with Kim Jong Un in Singapore. “I asked for changes. I demanded changes. And in fact, those changes were made. That picture was, we were waiting for the document.”
The picture has since gone viral on the internet, and Trump raised it himself at the news conference after he was asked about his relationship with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. Trump called him “very dishonest and weak” in a tweet after Trudeau repeated criticisms of U.S. tariffs on imported steel and aluminum and Trump’s trade policies in a news conference following the Group of Seven meeting in Quebec.
“Canada does have a very big advantage over us. We have a very big trade deficit with Canada. They don’t take our farm products,” Trump complained at the news conference.
The U.S. had a trade surplus with Canada of about $7.7 billion in 2016, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, although Statistics Canada data show the U.S. had a trade deficit of about $14.6 billion.
Trump revoked his administration’s support for the G-7 communique after Trudeau’s news conference.
“He learned,” Trump said. “That’s going to cost a lot of money for the people of Canada.”
Other G-7 countries lobbied unsuccessfully at the summit for the U.S. to reverse its tariffs on imported steel and aluminum imports. Trump turned the tables by challenging world leaders to eliminate all trade barriers, tariffs and subsidies and he threatened to stop trading with them entirely.
