G7 Summit Highlights: Tusk Accuses Trump of Challenging 'International Order'

Former Polish Prime Minister and the current President of the European Council Donald Tusk claimed that the “rules-based international order is being challenged” by none other than "its main architect and guarantor, the US", according to The Independent.

"We will not stop trying to convince our American friends and President Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all, because it would only play into the hands of those who seek a new, post-West order, where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist," Tusk declared.

Let’s Make a 'Common Assessment'

First Day of G7: US Tariffs, NAFTA Deal, Trump-Kim Summit Dominated Agenda

9 June 2018, 04:11 GMT

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker suggested to Trump that the US and EU conduct a joint assessment of trade between the parties, arguing that the steel and aluminum tariffs recently imposed against Europe by the United States were based on “a misreading of trade data,” an official who followed the talks told Reuters.

"Donald, I am ready to come to Washington as soon as possible to have a common assessment. I want this issues to be resolved in a friendly manner," the official quoted Juncker as saying, adding that the latter "received a nod of acceptance in response."

'Nobody is Forever'

During a joint press conference with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday, French President Emmanuel Macron declared that while US President Donald Trump may not care about being isolated, “nobody is forever.”

"The six countries of the G7 without the United States are a bigger market taken together than the American market. There will be no world hegemony if we know how to organize ourselves. And we don't want there to be one," the French president said.

He also added that the G7 members other that the US "don't mind being six, if need be," and that these six nations "represent a real force at the international level today."

Trading Barbs

While participating in a photo op at the summit, US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau exchanged joking remarks related to the retaliatory tariffs recently imposed by Canada on US exports and the attempts by the White House to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

"Justin has agreed to cut all tariffs, all trade barriers between Canada and the United States, so I’m very happy," Trump told reporters.

"So I’d say NAFTA is in good shape," Trudeau immediately retorted.

The two-day G7 summit kicked off in Canada on June 8. The high-profile event is being attended by the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.