Despite alienating the U. S., the other six members of the G7 are proclaiming last weekend’s summit a success. Much of the world’s media seems…
Despite alienating the U. S., the other six members of the G7 are proclaiming last weekend’s summit a success.
Much of the world’s media seems to agree, describing President Trump as petulant and too concerned with “America first” to work with his economic allies.
Even Canada’s usually conservative National Post described Trump’s contributions to the conference as a “meltdown.”
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, was severely criticized by both Trump and his advisors over the weekend. Trump trade advisor Peter Navarro even said there was a “special place in hell” for Trudeau.
But the G6 are trying to find as silver lining.
As the National Post notes, French President Emmanuel Macron joined the tweetfest Sunday evening lauding the commitments that the summit allegedly achieved and downplaying the static created by Trump’s early exit and angry tweeting.
Trudeau summed the experience up in a Sunday tweet: “The historic and important agreement we all reached at #G7Charlevoix will help make our economies stronger & people more prosperous, protect our democracies, safeguard our environment and protect women & girls’ rights around the world. That’s what matters.”
Trudeau was nowhere to be found Monday morning but his foreign affairs minister, Chrystia Freeland concurred, adding only that the Trudeau government doesn’t think “ad hominem attacks” are helpful, CTV News reported .
According to the Nataional Post, German Foreign Minister Heiko Mass dismissed Trump and his “America first” agenda by saying Canada and a united Europe can be a counterweight to perceived American belligerence.
An anonymous French official quoted by the National Post suggested everything ran smoothly despite the challenges. “I think Canada did a great job at quite a difficult time. Being able to make everyone agree on one communique wasn’t an easy task. And the U. S. decision on tariffs only a few day before the summit made the task even harder.”
Trudeau did manage to get a hearing for his social justice at the summit, including a “gender equity” package that includes a commitment signatories to spend more of their foreign aid budget on securing access to abortion in third world countries.
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