LA MALBAIE, Quebec (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump railed against trade practices he called unfair to the United States at a Group of Seven nations summit where leaders agreed on Saturday to fight protectionism and reform the World Trade Organization.
“We’re like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing,” Trump said at a press conference shortly before leaving the gathering of the United States, Canada, Great Britain, France, Italy, Germany and Japan. “It’s going to stop now or we’ll stop trading with them (other nations).”
German Chancellor Angela Merkel acknowledged differences between the United States and the six other members of the G7 remained, but said a joint statement on trade was expected to be issued at the end of the two-day summit in La Malbaie, Quebec.
“For us, it was important that we have a commitment for a rule-based trade order, that we continue to fight against protectionism and that we want to reform the WTO,” Merkel told reporters.
Germany along with other European Union members, Canada and Mexico were stung last week when Trump imposed tariffs on imports of their aluminum and steel to the United States.
The German leader said there was broad agreement among G7 leaders that tariffs and other trade barriers should be reduced. “These are jointly shared principles, although the pitfalls lie in the details,” she said.
“For us, it was important that we have a commitment for a rule-based trade order, that we continue to fight against protectionism and that we want to reform the WTO,” Merkel said.
Trump, who repeated that the tariffs are meant to protect U.S. industry and workers from what he describes as unfair international competition, said he had suggested to the other G7 leaders that all trade barriers, including tariffs
