WASHINGTON/OTTAWA (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump is not backing down from the tough line he has taken on trade, the White House’s top economic adviser said on Wednesday, setting the stage for a showdown with top allies at this week’s G7 summit in Canada.
The meeting on Friday and Saturday in Charlevoix, Quebec, will be the first chance G7 leaders have had to confront Trump in person since U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union were imposed last week.
That move unleashed fury in the Group of Seven (G7)industrialized nations and prompted quick retaliation from Canada and Mexico and a promise from the EU to do so as well, unnerving investors who fear a trade war that could damage the global economy.
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, the summit host, and British Prime Minister Theresa May, who will also attend, are among those to sharply criticize the U.S. tariffs as unjustified and punitive.
“There are disagreements. He’s sticking to his guns. And he’s going to talk to them,” Larry Kudlow, Trump’s top economic adviser, told reporters in Washington. “The lines are open, the negotiations are ongoing.”
Kudlow added that the United States and China had not yet reached a deal to resolve Trump’s demand for a smaller U.S. trade deficit with China. Washington has demanded that Beijing take steps to open its markets further to U.S. goods.
The U.S. trade deficit, however, fell to a seven-month low in April as exports rose to a record high, the U.S. Commerce Department reported on Wednesday.
Trump, who has vowed to protect U.S. industry and workers
