Trump vows to have fair trade relations with other countries

Quebec City, June 10 (IANS) US President Donald Trump warned on Saturday at the G7 Summit here that the US will do whatever is necessary for his country to have fair trade relations with other countries.

Trump added "look, all of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade," and promised that those days are over.

The US President gave a press conference at the seat of the summit in the Canadian town of La Malbaie shortly before he left the meeting to head for Singapore, where on June 12 he will meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, Efe reported.

About that meeting, Trump said "within the first minute, I’ll know" whether the North Korean leader wants to negotiate seriously with the US. "My touch, my feel — that’s what I do."

About trade matters, which Trump admitted has become the main topic of discussion at the G7 Summit at La Malbaie, the US President said his country is being treated unfairly by everyone and that he’s "going to deal with the unfair trade practices" of other G7 members.

Trump threatened that the US will stop trading with countries that maintain tariffs on his country’s exports, particularly in the agricultural sector, and that he has launched the idea of eliminating all trade duties, because "ultimately that’s what you want. You want a tariff free. You want no barriers. And you want no subsidies".

According to Trump, it’s not fair that other countries like Canada and India "have trade barriers against our farmers."

The US leader repeated once more that it would be a good idea for Russia to return to the G7 and insisted that at the summit, some have liked the idea.

"Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?" Trump asked. "It’s up to them, but Russia should be in the meeting." At least one country, Italy, agreed.

Trump said he hasn’t talked with Putin for some time and justified his proposal because the reincorporation would be good for the world, for Russia, for the United States and for the G7 countries.

Trump wouldn’t discuss the reasons why Russia was expelled from the group in 2014, specifically because of its annexation of the Ukrainian territory of Crimea, but blamed his predecessor, Barack Obama, for allowing it to happen, and said he would have done things very differently.

The US president argued that the invasion and annexation happened a long time ago and that a G8 (G7 plus Russia) makes more sense than the G7.

Finally, Trump rejected as "fake news" a question by CNN about his tense relations with other G7 leaders, especially Germany’s Angela Merkel, France’s Emmanuel Macron and Canada’s Justin Trudeau.