'Fair trade, fool trade', Trump's tweets
spew ire on NATO allies, Trudeau
Send a link to a friend
[June 11, 2018]
By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom
SINGAPORE (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald
Trump fired off a volley of tweets on Monday venting anger on NATO
allies, the European Union and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in
the wake of a divisive G7 meeting over the weekend.
The escalating clash over trade between Washington and some of its
closest global partners cast a cloud over Trump's efforts to make
history in nuclear talks in Singapore on Tuesday with Kim Jong Un of
North Korea, one of America's bitterest foes.
Having left the Group of Seven summit in Canada early, Trump's
announcement that he was backing out of the joint communique torpedoed
what appeared to be a fragile consensus on the trade dispute between
Washington and its top allies.
"Fair trade is now to be called fool trade if it is not reciprocal,"
said Trump, who flew from Canada to Singapore on Sunday to prepare for
the first-ever summit between a U.S. and North Korean leader.
"Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on
trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!"
The communique, which had appeared to have papered over the cracks that
surfaced so uncharacteristically at the G7, said the leaders of the
United States, Canada, Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan were
agreed on the need for "free, fair, and mutually beneficial trade" and
the importance of fighting protectionism.
"We strive to reduce tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers and
subsidies," the statement said, which came despite Washington appearing
intent on taking more punitive steps on trade.
Trump's extraordinary outburst on Monday against NATO allies, the
European Union and Canada appeared aimed at striking a chord with voters
who support his "America First" agenda.
At the same time, however, it put Trump in the position of going into a
crucial summit at odds with countries he needs on his side to pressure
North Korea to move toward dismantling a nuclear arsenal that threatens
the United States.
"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?"
It was left to Trump's aides to figure out how to explain Trump's airing
of grievances against trading partners instead of focusing on his coming
talks with Kim, which the president's supporters hope will provide him
with a major foreign policy win.
IRRITANTS WILL BE OVERCOME
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo praised European countries for helping to
bring about the North Korea summit, alluding to their enforcement of
sanctions against Pyongyang. He expressed confidence that U.S. relations
with other G7 countries would continue to move forward, despite the
weekend clash in Canada.
"There are always irritants in relationships," Pompeo told reporters. He
dismissed as "ludicrous" the notion that Kim would decide he could not
trust the United States because of the G7 dispute.
White House spokesman Raj Shah said Trump was "rattling the cages right
now on trade," insisting there was no reason to believe there would be
any negative fallout for the North Korea summit. "These are really
unrelated baskets of issues."
But one U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity, acknowledged:
"The timing for all this is not very good at all."
The prospect that Trump could be moving toward an even greater
protectionist trade policy is likely to chill financial markets worried
about tit-for-tat escalation that could lead to a full-blown global
trade war.
[to top of second column]
|
German Chancellor Angela Merkel speaks to U.S. President Donald
Trump during the second day of the G7 meeting in Charlevoix city of
La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, June 9, 2018. Bundesregierung/Jesco
Denzel/Handout via REUTERS
"Business confidence, and subsequently capital spending, is at risk
if this tension continues through the summer," said Tai Hui, J.P.
Morgan Asset Management Chief Market Strategist for Asia Pacific.
"This could cast a long shadow over global growth, which has
rebounded in recent weeks after a soft start to the year."
Nevertheless, markets were relatively calm on Monday after an early
wobble.
Trump also lambasted fellow members of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organisation (NATO) for paying disproportionately less than the
United States to maintain the Western alliance.
"The U.S. 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!"
"Germany pays 1 percent (slowly) of GDP towards NATO, while we pay 4
percent of a much larger GDP. Does anybody believe that makes
sense?"
"We protect Europe (which is good) at great financial loss, and then
get unfairly clobbered on trade. Change is coming!"
Trump also renewed attacks on Canadian Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau, who had hosted the G7 meeting in Quebec.
"Justin acts hurt when called out!" the U.S. president said in his
latest Tweet. On Saturday, he called the Canadian prime minister
"very dishonest and weak."
PLACE IN HEAVEN
White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow accused Trudeau of
betraying Trump with "polarizing" statements on trade policy that
risked making the U.S. leader look weak ahead of the historic summit
with Kim.
"(Trudeau) really kind of stabbed us in the back," Kudlow, the
director of the National Economic Council who had accompanied Trump
to Canada, said on CNN's "State of the Union."
Trade adviser Peter Navarro told "Fox News Sunday" that "there is a
special place in hell for any leader that engages in bad faith
diplomacy" with Trump.
Pompeo, at the Singapore briefing, pointedly ignored a reporter's
question about Navarro's comment and left the podium while he was
being pressed for an answer.
Trudeau, in Quebec City for bilateral meetings with non-G7 leaders
after the summit, did not comment as he arrived.
But he got direct personal support from some European leaders.
British Prime Minister Theresa May "is fully supportive" of Trudeau
and his leadership, a senior UK government source said, while
European Council President Donald Tusk tweeted: "There is a special
place in heaven for @JustinTrudeau."
(Additional reporting by David Brunnstrom and Vidya Ranganathan in
Singapore; Marius Zaharia in Hong Kong; Writing by Simon
Cameron-Moore, Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)
[© 2018 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.]
Copyright 2018 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content. |