Donald Trump refuses to sign G-7 statement, snubs Justin Trudeau

President Trump upended two days of global economic diplomacy late Saturday, refusing to sign a joint statement with America’s allies, threatening to escalate his trade war on the country’s neighbours and deriding Canada’s prime minister as “very dishonest and weak.” In a remarkable pair of acrimony-laced tweets from aboard Air Force One as he flew away from the Group of 7 summit toward a meeting with North Korea’s leader, Trump lashed out at Justin Trudeau. 

He accused the prime minister, who hosted the seven-nation gathering, of making false statements. Literally moments after Trudeau’s government proudly released the joint statement, noting it had been agreed to by all seven countries, Trump blew apart the veneer of cordiality that had prevailed throughout the two days of meetings in a resort town on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. “Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our US farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our US Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the US Market!” Trump wrote. A few hours earlier, Trudeau said the seven nations had reached broad agreements on a range of economic and foreign policy goals. But he acknowledged that deep disagreements remained between Trump and the leaders of the other nations, especially on trade.

Fair trade is not fair to US people: Trump lashes out at Trudeau again

US President Donald Trump issued a volley of tweets on Monday venting anger on some of Washington's closest NATO allies over the United State's trade deficit, following a divisive G7 meeting in Canada. "Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal," said Trump, who flew from Canada to Singapore for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. "Not fair to the people of America! $800 billion trade deficit," he said. 

"Why should I, as president of the United State, allow countries to continue to make massive trade surpluses, as they have for decades, while our farmers, workers & taxpayers have such a big and unfair price to pay?" Trump went on to lambast fellow members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) for paying disproportionately less than the United States to maintain the Western alliance. "The US pays close to the entire cost of NATO - protecting many of these same countries that rip us off on trade (they pay only a fraction of the cost - and laugh!)," he tweeted. "The European Union had a $151 billion surplus - should pay much more for military!"

G7 leaders divided on trade; Trump attacks EU, Canada amid backlash

Leaders of the Group of Seven rich nations headed for a summit in Canada on Thursday more divided than at any time in the group's 42-year history, as U.S. President Donald Trump's "America First" policies risk causing a global trade war and deep diplomatic schisms. In a bid to rebuild America's industry, Trump has imposed hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, including those from key G7 allies like Canada, Japan and the European Union. 

Trump has threatened to use national security laws to do the same for car imports and has walked back on environmental agreements and an international deal to prevent Iran from building a nuclear bomb. French President Emmanuel Macron, who has invested in a warm personal relationship with Trump, said the other G7 nations - Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy and Japan, as well as France - should remain "polite" and productive but warned that "no leader is forever," a sign that Europe would not surrender meekly to the U.S. president.

Trump tariff plan on steel, aluminum imports 'unacceptable': Justin Trudeau

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Friday called US President Donald Trump's plan for tariffs on steel and aluminum imports "absolutely unacceptable" and warned of serious disruption.

Trudeau said Trump's plan will have "significant and serious" economic ramifications on both sides of the Canada-US border, Xinhua reported.

"The US has a two billion Canadian dollars ($1.6 billion) surplus on steel with us, so we regard the imposition of any new tariffs or any tariffs on steel or aluminum between our two countries as absolutely unacceptable," Trudeau was quoted as saying.

He stressed that it makes no sense for the US to claim there's a national security imperative for imposing the duties, given the level of security cooperation between the two countries.

Amid Khalistan fire, Justin Trudeau meets Modi today: Top 10 developments

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to meet Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday, even as his maiden India visit plunged into another controversy on Thursday because of a dinner invitation to convicted Khalistani terrorist Jaspal Atwal by the Canadian High Commissioner to India.
Trudeau's Khalistani problem continues to dog him, while the Canadian media has said that he has been given the cold shoulder by the Indian government, even as the latter has denied any such speculation. For his part, Trudeau on Thursday said that Atwal should never have been invited.

While the controversy raged, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday evening welcomed Trudeau on his visit and said he looked forward to meeting him on Friday. In a separate tweet, Modi said that he hoped Trudeau had an enjoyable visit to India so far and that he particularly looked forward to meeting Trudeau's three children Xavier, Ella-Grace, and Hadrien.
PM Modi also posted a picture 

From 'snub' to scandal: Canadian PM Trudeau's India visit in nutshell

Canadian and Indian officials scrambled on Thursday to explain how a convicted Sikh extremist was invited to a New Delhi reception for Justin Trudeau, the latest misstep in the Canadian prime minister’s bumpy eight-day trip to India.

The tour has been overshadowed by suggestions of a lukewarm reception by the government and a series of photo ops featuring the Trudeau family in coordinated Indian attire that have raised eyebrows in both countries.

The latest flashpoint, a swiftly cancelled invitation by the Canadian delegation to Jaspal Atwal -- convicted in 1986 of the attempted murder of an Indian politician visiting Canada -- came just days after Trudeau had assured his hosts he would not support anyone trying to revive a separatist movement in India.

Trudeau to Trump: Canada is no mouse, more like moose-strong but peaceable

Focusing on the need for shared economic priorities between two countries - Canada and the United States (US), Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made it clear that his nation would not be cowed or "moused" out of representing its own interests.

"Canada is a confident, creative, resourceful and resource-rich nation. We are a wealthy and influential country by world standards. But we are also a country of 35 million people living next door to one roughly 10 times our size and the world's only superpower," CNN reported Trudeau as saying at the US' National Governors Association summer meeting in Providence, Rhode Island on Friday.

"My father, Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau, once compared this to sleeping next to an elephant," he told the gathering of US state governors. "While you, my American friends, may be an elephant, Canada is no mouse. More like a moose -- strong and peaceable but still massively outweighed."

Trudeau explained that Canada is renewing its meeting in the bilateral relationship, CNN reported.

"This is another truth about good neighbors: sometimes we take each other for granted.

Sometimes the very dependability and ease of a relationship can lead to us paying too little attention, he said. "We in Canada decided we would not allow that to happen to our relationship with the United States of America."
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Macron, Trudeau shouldn't be so proud of appointing women to their Cabinets

Appointing a gender-parity Cabinet seems to be the thing to do if you are a rising, progressive and male political star.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau did it in 2015. French President Emmanuel Macron followed this May.

The internet loves it. Trudeau has been the darling of feminists everywhere, and Macron clearly wants to follow in his footsteps. Being a male feminist politician is hip.

Trudeau does a little humble bragging.
Yet my research shows that numerical representation of women is not the silver bullet it has long been considered. What’s more important for achieving meaningful equity is that women control key political resources. In the highest echelon of politics, that means occupying senior Cabinet positions with the greatest financial and staff resources.

When being present is not enough

But what about that famous rallying cry for bringing more women into politics? “If you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu” makes sense intuitively. And, in political systems such as France and Canada, it is in Cabinets where the major policy decisions are being made. Having 50 percent women in a Cabinet seems to signal that women’s concerns are being taken seriously: for example, by passing a gender sensitive budget or addressing implicit sex bias in tax codes.

Unfortunately, research consistently has shown that women are relegated to lower-level or female-friendly Cabinet positions such as health, families, development or sports. Essentially, this means women might have a voice in Cabinet meetings but they cannot move the policy needle in important areas such as foreign affairs, finance or employment.

So how do the Cabinets of Trudeau and Macron measure up? Are they truly feminist – in other words, committed to sharing power equally between men and women? Or are these ostensibly equitable Cabinets mere window dressing? Unfortunately, under both Trudeau and Macron, men still occupy the majority of powerful positions.
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