On Saturday morning, Mr. Trump described his relationships with French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Mr. Trudeau as “a 10.”
10 This
Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
PM Justin Trudeau of Canada acted so meek and mild during our @G7 meetings only to give a news conference after I left saying that, “US Tariffs were kind of insulting” and he “will not be pushed around.” Very dishonest & weak. Our Tariffs are in response to his of 270% on dairy!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 9, 2018
The New York Times reports Trump Refuses to Sign G-7 Statement and Calls Trudeau ‘Weak’
President Trump upended two days of global economic diplomacy late Saturday, refusing to sign a joint statement with America’s allies, threatening to escalate his trade war on the country’s neighbors and deriding Canada’s prime minister as “very dishonest and weak.”
Literally moments after Mr. Trudeau’s government proudly released the joint statement, noting it had been agreed to by all seven countries, Mr. Trump blew apart the veneer of cordiality that had prevailed throughout the two days of meetings in a resort town on the banks of the St. Lawrence River.
Today the Wall Street Journal reports Trump Says U.S. Won’t Endorse G-7 Communique, Threatens Auto Tariffs.
The communique said the nations would “strive to reduce tariff barriers, nontariff barriers and subsidies.”
That statement was in line with my prediction earlier today: “The meeting was productive blah blah blah. We all agree on the need to reduce trade barriers blah blah.”
However, there was much more blah blah blah than I expected.
A copy of the eight-page communique, obtained by The Wall Street Journal, states that leaders share a commitment to promoting a “rules-based international order.” Under a section titled “Investing in Growth that Works for Everyone,” the statement underlines “the crucial role of a rules-based international trading system and continue to fight protectionism.”
https://twitter.com/marceldirsus/status/1005476505550540807
https://twitter.com/Phil_Havercroft/status/1005229863001841664
https://twitter.com/SandyMascola/status/1005488376051589120
“German Chancellor Angela Merkel looks towards US President Donald Trump, who arrived late for the Gender Equality Advisory Council working breakfast on the second day of the G7 Summit on June 9, 2018 in Quebec City, Canada”.
Photo Leon Neal (Getty Images/AFP)#G7 #G7Charlevoix pic.twitter.com/aXC6mtyl7G
— Nati Pecoraro (@natipecoraro) June 9, 2018
Ah! Success
“The United States has been taken advantage of for decades and decades and we can’t do that anymore.”
WATCH: President @realDonaldTrump‘s full statement from the #G7 Summit. pic.twitter.com/eJ1VyGxerH
— Fox News (@FoxNews) June 9, 2018
That is really quite an amazing video given what happened moments later.
Mike “Mish” Shedlock
Those are Cdn stats. Cdn officials are quoting American stats. Those show an American surplus on goods and services, and a small deficit on goods only, but without the oil (biggest item) that would also be a n outsize surplus.
Cdn stats differ because of the way they include re-exportation of stuff produced outside of Canada.
The bizarre part of the taxpayer-funded G7 was the “Gender Equality Breakfast”, and the day wasted on the junk science of Anthropogenic Global Warming. If the Six Dwarves really wanted to be leaders, they would have been addressing the unsustainable debt they have run up, and their inability to live within their revenues, and their cultural problems (including unassimilated immigrants).
T2 at the G7:
When you look in my eyes, I can see free stuff!!!!
‘Men have no rights, only responsibilities’
Former Liberal Justice Minister 2003
G7 2018: the reality
The Simpson’s predict the future yet again!!!!
It’s not incompetence, it’s the deliberate shift of wealth to a tiny elite via monetary policy, and the results have been magnificent.
There is a movement called the convention of states, google it. They are advocating much of the needed reforms and it calls for a constitutional convention after two thirds of the states pass the resolution. Many politicians are against this naturally but it has passed in a number of states. I get updates via email on their progress and it may happen.
hmk – There are lots of good ideas for reigning in the Political Class and restoring good government. But there is a problem — the Political Class would have to agree to throw away their own iron rice bowl. That is not going to happen! Not peacefully, anyway.
Mish has speculated we are in a pre-World War situation. In reality, in much of the world, we are in a pre-revolutionary situation — thanks to the incompetence of the Political Class.
Exactly. One way to limit largess like the trillion dollar deficit Trump agreed to is to do term limits. One term only and govt funded campaigns with no donations “might” motivate those corrupt sobs into thinking about making hard decisions that right the ship instead of thinking about getting their pockets lined and reelected. Both parties equally guilty
“Only fools dislike free stuff”. Only fools believe anything is free.
While we are spewing Utopian ideals, like the elimination of worldwide tarrifs and subsidies, let’s go ahead and promote a carbon tax on the US under the pretense it will stop global warming, or the coming cooling cycle, while allowing other countries to pollute. The establishment wants us to argue about lies to keep the focus off the real problem – govt largess.
Why are people critical of Trump, who actually has business experience, when all the inexperienced establishment intellectuals are the ones that guided us to this economic cliff? Certainly, people are not arguing we should continue on the same trajectory??? Trump said he would walk away if real change was not on the table, and that’s what he did, just as he did with the bogus Paris Climate Accord. I suspect he will do the same thing in Singapore if politicians try to continue down the same establishment path to destruction.
The root problem is govt deficit spending and corruption, which can be traced back to the career politician. The rest of the G-7 is in worse economic shape because they embrace Collectivist policies and continue to believe if they take more from their citizens and others it will solve their problems, when the real objective is to maintain their perks and power. Granted, our path would look more like theirs if we didn’t have the world’s reserve currency, but the EU would not be in their predicament if the euro was a real competitor to the dollar, which could’ve occured if they consolidated the debt of member countries. We are here because of political expediency. Trump was elected because he is NOT politically correct.
The broker a govt gets, the deeper they dig their economic coffin by raising taxes, fees, and spying on people to find every last penny they think they deserve. The establishment at home is fighting Trump at every turn, as he wants to bring an end to their rigged gambit. Why wouldn’t the rest of the G-7 establishment fight him? They are losing support at home, as anti-establishment movements grow in strength. When they can’t get away with taking more from their citizens, they try to take more from others and paint foreigners as boogeymen. Yes, I know, we do the same thing, for the same reasons – govt.
By pushing back, Trump is sending the same signal he is sending our establishment – go reform and fix your problems instead of looking for another sap to fund your largess. Unfortunately, we must crash and burn, as career politicians are incapable of looking in the mirror and reforming. After all, what real work could they actually do to add value? People falsely argue we don’t have the skills to meet job demand, but if this were true, who has been responsible for providing the bulk of the education in this country? The big void in education, morals, and ethics is in govt and big corporations, that find it easier to bribe career politicians, instead of competing.
The prosperity of a country comes from the freedom of people to pursue their self-interest, and the equal enforcement of the rule of law. Most other countries, and the establishment in this country, want the power to be in the hands of govt for their own prosperity. Give Trump a chance. We’ve tried the alternative.
Another genius. So what is your plan to raise the pay of working Americans? Have you seen the latest stat on labor participation rate of working-age Americans? So I see, you have no clue.
I’m having a hard time finding out what specifically Trudeau said that is the issue.
That link doesn’t count services. Total exports we have a surplus with Canada. ”
The U.S. goods trade deficit with Canada was $17.5 billion in 2017, a 59.7% increase ($6.5 billion) over 2016.
The United States has a services trade surplus of an estimated $26 billion with Canada in 2017, up 8.0% from 2016.”
pi314: Well you know I’m sure that people who depended of the “horse and buggy” industry said exactly the same thing at the start of the automobile revolution. “The VAST majority of US population are getting paid 1/5 of Ford workers salaries”.
Those countries that engage in mercantilist trade practice ultimately will pay a price while the countries/business’ hurt by this “unfair” practice will become more competitive and efficient. The theory of capitalisms creative destruction takes hold. Many of the unskilled factory jobs may be replaced by automation and onshored as a result.
For Trump to ask for elimination of all trade barriers is a great idea but I doubt it happens, but it can’t hurt to try. I don’t understand the vitriol against him and his supporters it sounds like sour grapes from corrupt Hiliary sycophants or the typical intolerant leftist ideologues.
The monosynaptic: “the smart thing to do is to unilaterally eliminate tariffs ..”
Over the last quarter century or so, the US has pretty much done that – certainly much lower tariffs than most other countries, and no significant non-tariff barriers. Mercantilist China has done the opposite – high tariffs, higher non-tariff barriers. Result — living standards declining in US, increasing in China. That is not an argument for other countries to copy China’s mercantilism — but it should give the unilateral free traders something to think about. Reciprocal free trade is good – unilateral free trade is plain silly.
Let’s admit it — the “give me cheap stuff” unilateral free traders are mostly white collar types in jobs where they are insulated from overseas competition. They don’t give a damn about the blue collar workers who pay the price for the upper class “cheap stuff”. The unilateral free trade argument is really Class Warfare.
It will be interesting to see the changes in attitude as offshoring increasingly hits the white collar professionals – accounting, legal support, engineering design, medical services, college education, software development, etc.
You need to check YOUR facts…. the US runs a trade deficit with Canada, therefore Canada has a trade SURPLUS.
link to census.gov
It sounds good on paper that we want our kids to have Facebook-like jobs. But how many Facebook-like job are there in the country? the world? What percentage of the population do you think can do Facebook-like jobs? The VAST majority of US population are getting paid 1/5 of FB salaries. So genius, how do you think we can get there?
Facts? Neither Trump nor his followers give a fig for facts. Don’t confuse them with the facts. Trump is playing to his base and being a belligerent bully is what his base loves about him. As November approaches expect more and more of this – we will probably be in a shooting war by then led by Cadet Bone Spurs.
Facts. Here’s some facts. The USA subsidizes dairy farmers for tens of billions per year, as does the EU. Canada has no subsidies! Does Canada dump subsidized milk into a competitive US market? No. Canada is export market number one for US dairy. Canadian exports to the USA are 1/5 the volume it imports from the USA.
Does Canada have a trade surplus with the USA. No, it has a trade deficit. The actual amount of the deficit is a very small sliver of B$600 of mutual trade volumes.
Does Canada dump steel into the USA? Actually, Canada is the biggest export market for US steel producers! And the US is the biggest export market for Cdn steel. Both countries are net importers of steel. Steel is not just steel, there are many products and grades, which manufacturers procure wherever they get the best deal. The Cdn response to US steel tariffs will be to have tariffs on US imports, forcing manufacturers to substitute European or Korean steel, if they can get exactly what they are looking for at all.
Does Canada want an EU or USA style dairy sector, with subsidies and perennial surpluses (which are thrown away or dumped in the third world where it distorts local markets)? No. American dairy farmers are committing suicide and going out of business because subsidized production keep prices too low and for many farmers below the cost of production. Here’s a good start for Trump: eliminate all government subsidies in the agricultural sector, and discover what this does to his political base support.
Grifters realizing their gravy train scam is over
Grifters realizing their gravy train scam is over
Yes – so we get our inputs cheaper than everybody else. Plus you can always cherry pick a tariff here or there (U.S. tariffs in Canadian softwood anybody?), but the smart thing to do is to unilaterally eliminate tariffs – and forget about other countries subsidizing their uneconomic industries – if they want to give us free money, “yes” is the only answer I want to hear from DC.
Trying to protect jobs in dying industries is pointless – instead of wasting money on that we should be investing in training our people so we get the new jobs – the ones that only exist in America and pay well.
Look at Facebook – median salary: $240,430. Now, tell me that we want to build an America for our kids (who will pay for our retirement) with Facebook-like jobs or dairy farmer assistant jobs? Or steel jobs? Or coal mining jobs?
Capitalism isn’t fair, but it is effective. It is our job to unfetter capitalism to create wealth then invest that in our people. Instead we are wasting time and money listening to an economic imbecile who is starting trade wars and castigating education because it makes people centrists.
Have you looked at the labor rate, unemployment rates, and job listings lately? Bashing his trade partners? No just stating facts. You think a 270% tariff on American dairy products by Canada is fair? The US has fewer and lower tariffs that ANY country trading with it! Wake up!
Final leadership. Merkel and the EU have been a disaster for Europe. Trump even gave props to the new Italian PM.
So much noise. As fun as it is watching elites (or their politician puppets) snipe at each other, it’s clear nothing will come out of this to benefit regular people, the ones who keep falling behind in this financialized economy.
Trying to keep my eye on the economic ball, lest I embrace my inner child and hope every summit devolves into a pie fighting melee.