Trump leaves fractured G7 summit marred by tariff dispute

US President Donald Trump who cut an isolated picture has hurriedly left the fractious G7 summit marred by trade threats and tensions over tariff dispute.

Reports say Trump left the meeting in the Quebec resort town of La Malbaie early to head to Singapore for a much-anticipated summit with North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un on June 12.

Before his departure, Trump accused his G7 counterparts and other nations of “unfair” trade practices and of treating the US like a “piggy bank”.

“The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades,” Trump told reporters, reiterating his long-standing view that Washington has been exploited for too long by existing trade arrangements.

Read Also: Trump fires back at EU, Canada over trade tariff backlash

All the G7 leaders present at the summit 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,” they said in the statement, reflecting the typical language of decades of G7 statements.

The two-day meeting also saw the leaders of the United States, Germany, Britain, France, Japan, Italy and Canada vow to tackle protectionism and cut trade barriers.

But the pledge did little to bridge a growing divide among the G7 partners following Trump’s imposition of tariffs on its allies last week and a looming threat of a global trade war.

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