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Trump blasts Canadian PM as ‘meek, dishonest’

Trump blasts Canadian PM as ‘meek, dishonest’

Donald TrumpBy Barry Ellsworth,

Trenton, Canada: The aftermath of the G7 Summit was rife with strife Sunday, with American economic director Larry Kudlow saying Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “stabbed us in the back”.

According to media reports, Canadian officials have been mystified by the attack on Trudeau by both Kudlow and U.S. President Donald Trump, since at a press conference after the summit ended Saturday, the prime minister used the same language as he had all week.

Regarding metal tariffs imposed by Trump for national security reasons, Trudeau repeated an earlier statement that the reason was “insulting” to Canadians who had fought and died alongside Americans in battlefields around the globe.

Trudeau also said Canada “will not be pushed around” byt its mighty U.S. neighbor.

Trump had appeared cordial during the two-day summit in Quebec, but he erupted with a Twitter firestorm of criticism of Trudeau once aboard Air Force One.

He described Trudeau as “meek” and “dishonest” and rescinded his earlier promise to sign the communique traditionally issued following G7 summits.

Trump also called for Canada to drop all trade tariffs, such as the one designed to protect Canada’s small dairy industry, and threatened more trade action if Canada did not acquiesce.

The brouhaha evaporated any goodwill that had been fostered between the U.S. and its allies at the G7.

In other developments at the two-day summit, Trudeau told Trump there would be no North American Free Trade Agreement unless the U.S. dropped its tariffs on steel and aluminum.

As promised on its agenda as G7 host country, Canada announced CAN$400 million (a little over $300 million) to help educate girls in poor countries, including the Rohingya. Other countries and organizations chipped in financially to bring the fund to CAN$3.8 billion ($2.94 billion) . The only G7 country that did not contribute was the U.S.

Trump left the summit after breakfast Saturday to fly to Singapore to prepare for his meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

As a result, the U.S. did not participate in discussions designed to tackle climate change and the removal of plastics from the world’s oceans.

The G7 members are Canada, the U.S., U.K. Germany, Italy, Japan and France.

—AA

Trudeau, Trump discuss accelerating NAFTA talks at G7

Trudeau, Trump discuss accelerating NAFTA talks at G7

Trudeau, Trump discuss accelerating NAFTA talks at G7Quebec (Canada) : Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump discussed accelerating the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) talks during a bilateral meeting at the ongoing G7 summit here.

“The Prime Minister and the President had a very positive, productive meeting and it lasted longer than originally scheduled,” CBC News quoted a senior Candian government official as saying on Friday.

“They did discuss NAFTA at length and they discussed the future of NAFTA, and I would say they also talked about accelerating the talks.”

Speaking after the meeting with Trudeau, Trump said he had a positive meeting with the Canadians during which NAFTA was the principal topic of discussion.

“We had a very positive meeting a little while ago on NAFTA. So this is turning out to be an interesting day. But we had a very, very good meeting on NAFTA with Justin and his representatives,” Trump said.

The reportedly positive tone of the leaders’ one-on-one meeting stood in stark contrast to a week of increasingly testy public statements by Trump, following Canada’s announcement last week that it would impose $16.6 billion in tariffs against US products on July 1 in retaliation against the American tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium.

Trump’s only other bilateral meeting on Friday was with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, CBC News reported.

Like Trudeau, Trump has sparred publicly with Macron on Twitter over what the US President calls unfair trade deals that impoverish American interests to the benefit of its allies.

But on the tariffs, the leaders sounded a bit optimistic on Friday.

“We had a very direct and open discussion,” Macron told reporters Friday of his one-on-one with Trump.

“And I saw the willingness on all the sides to find agreements and have a win-win approach for our people, our workers, and our middle classes.”

Besides the bilateral meetings, the G7 leaders took part in two working groups where discussion of trade was front and centre.

Before leaving for the summit, Trump called for reinstating Russia into the group of top industrialised nations after its expulsion for annexing Crimea, reports the BBC.

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said all the European Union members were against the idea.

Trump will the two-day summit early to head to Singapore for his landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.

—IANS

Trump blames Canada for burning White House in 1812 War

Trump blames Canada for burning White House in 1812 War

Trump blames Canada for burning White House in 1812 WarWashington : US President Donald Trump on Wednesday reproached Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, claiming that Canada burned the White House in the War of 1812, although that was actually done by British troops, media reports said.

According to a CNN reported, citing unnamed sources, during a May 25 telephone call to discuss US tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, Trudeau asked Trump how he could use national security to justify imposing the tariffs.

“Didn’t you guys burn down the White House?” Trump reportedly responded in what was an overall “testy” conversation.

Since Trump announced that he was weighing the possibility of imposing tariffs on steel and aluminum imports — although he temporarily agreed to exclude the European Union, Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, South Korea and Mexico — the White House has taken the stance that it was being done on the basis of national security.

The justification for that argument, however, has been called into question both by experts and other leaders, Efe reported.

In fact, during an interview last weekend – and with the tariffs already in place – Trudeau said it was “inconceivable” that the Trump administration could suspect Canada, one of Washington’s closest allies over many decades, of posing a national security threat to the US, adding at a press conference that suggesting such a thing was an “affront” to Canada.

When asked whether he simply took Trump’s comment as some sort of “joke,” the Canadian leader said “To the degree one can ever take what is said as a joke. The impact on Canada and ultimately on workers in the US won’t be a laughing matter.”

Regarding the burning of the White House on Aug. 24, 1814, in fact it was British troops who – after invading Washington in the War of 1812 – burned several federal buildings including the White House and the US Capitol.

Canada was still a British colony – and thus did not exist as an independent country – at the time and the British occupation of Washington came in response to an American attack on the city of York, Ontario.

This is not the first time that Trump has made a comment that riled the Canadians. In March, he boasted before television cameras that he had lied to Trudeau by claiming that Washington has a trade deficit with its northern neighbor.

—IANS

Khalistan issue has derailed focus of Trudeau’s visit: Herb Dhaliwal

Khalistan issue has derailed focus of Trudeau’s visit: Herb Dhaliwal

Herb Dhaliwal

Herb Dhaliwal

By Gurmukh Singh,

Toronto : Canadas first Cabinet minister of Indian origin, Herb Dhaliwal, says the focus of the on-going visit of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to India has been derailed by the Khalistan issue.

“It is very unfortunate that the media in India has overblown this Khalistan issue. This has shifted the focus away from trade — which is what the two countries should be discussing,” Dhaliwal, who in 1993 became the first Indian to be elected as an MP in the Western world, told IANS.

Dhaliwal, who served as Canada’s Minister for Revenue and Natural Resources from 1997 to 2003, said the sticking issue between the two countries is “about human rights and not Khalistan”.

He said, “When I was the Cabinet minister, I had met Prime Ministers (I.K.) Gujral, Manmohan Singh and (A.B.) Vajpayee and raised the issue of punishment for those behind the 1984 riots. I had told them it is about human rights and they had no objection.”

Dhaliwal said the vast majority of Sikhs in Canada have nothing to do with Khalistan. All they want is that human rights must be respected and the culprits behind the 1984 killings should be brought to justice.

“There is only a very small proportion (of Sikhs) in Canada which is blowing up the issue of Khalistan for their own purposes. This issue is about human rights,” said Dhaliwal, who was instrumental in the opening of the Canadian consulate in Chandigarh in 2003.

About Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh’s charges against two Sikh ministers in Trudeau’s cabinet, including Defence Minister Harjit Sajjan, as being Khalistani supporters and denial of visa to him by Canada, Dhaliwal hoped that Trudeau will discuss these issues with him.

About denial of Canadian visa to Amarinder Singh in 2016, he said, “It was the result of some misunderstanding at the bureaucratic or some other level. It shouldn’t have happened. Canada should apologise to Amarinder Singh for this error.”

Urging Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Trudeau not to let this issue divert their focus from trade, Dhaliwal said the economic interests of India and Canada are complementary.

“Canada is rich in oil and gas and we can help meet the energy security demands of India’s fast-growing economy. We can also be a major supplier of agricultural products for India.”

Despite all the issues between the two countries, Dhaliwal said, “The huge inflow of Indian students into Canada and direct air connections are big pluses which will help build future relationships. I think this is an important development which people should emphasise.”

—IANS