Financial Times: US Relations With Allies at New Lows

Trade tensions made for an acrimonious G7 summit, reports Chris Giles for the Financial Times: “The west was in disarray after Donald Trump left the summit early, instructed his officials to tear up the bland G7 statement, threatened to impose more tariffs and called the Canadian prime minister ‘very dishonest and weak.’” Trump administration officials became defensive after G7 host and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau described US tariffs as “insulting” and left other countries little choice but to retaliate. Trump proposed allowing Russia to return to the annual summit meeting intended for major democracies, and other leaders like Germany’s Angela Merkel, Britain’s Theresa May and France’s Emmanuel Macron vowed to fight for “values.” The summit statement, rejected by Trump, expressed support for “a rules-based international trading system.” By comparison, Giles notes, Shanghai Cooperation Organization organized by Russia and China, also including India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, went smoothly. – YaleGlobal