US will be isolated at the G7 summit in Canada

US will be isolated at the G7 summit in Canada
By Daniel Bellamy with Rueters
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President Trump's protectionist stance, which have already provoked retaliatory tariffs by the EU, Canada and Mexico hasn't backed down on imposing tariffs.

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The G7 meeting of the world's largest western economies is going to be dominated by just one topic - US president Trump's trade tariffs on Canada, Mexico and the EU.

It's been nicknamed the "G6 plus one", because all the leaders that gather in Charlevoix in Canada on Friday are already united against Trump's protectionist trade policies.

Those six leaders are some of America's closest allies, yet they're furious that there's now a real possibility of a trade war which could derail the global economy.

And he's partly justified the tariffs as necessary on national security grounds which has particularly angered the nation host Canada.

25 percent tariffs on steel and 10 percent on aluminium will hit more than six billion euros' worth of EU exports of steel and aluminium - according to the EU estimates.

When it comes to steel, Britain appears to be banking on its so-called special relationship with the US.

Its trade minister Liam Fox said he hopes it will be exempt from US steel tariffs post-Brexit after the Prime Minister Theresa May told Donald Trump they were "unjustified."

He's stated that Theresa May and President Trump have agreed to discuss it at the summit, although no formal post-Brexit trade negotiations can begin until 2019.

Days before the meeting the EU has confirmed plans to target 2.8 billion euros' worth of US products with extra tariffs.

Canada - the biggest supplier of steel to the US - has also announced plans to retaliate with tariffs on nearly eleven billion euros' worth of US products.

But the Trump administration has vowed to protect US industry and workers from what he calls unfair international competition. He says it's part of his "America First" agenda.

"President Trump is very clear with respect to his trade reform efforts that we will do what is necessary to protect the United States," the director of the National Economic Council said.

Trump will also be isolated at the G7 on the Iran nuclear deal which he's pulled America out of.

The UK, France and Germany are demanding that European companies, such as aircraft giant Airbus, are spared US sanctions. And some EU firms have already announced that they'll leave Iran.

Trump is also alone in having pulled the US out of the Paris Climate Change treaty.

So there are particularly low expecations for this summit - usually a communique is issued at the end of G7 meetings but this year sources within the Canadian government say that's unlikely.

Some analysts are now questioning whether Washington remains committed to basic policies that have upheld the post-World War Two international economic system.

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