(Trade) war and peace: Trump hypes landmark summit with Kim Jong Un in between bashing G7 allies
- Donald Trump has tweeted his excitement about meeting Kim Jong Un in his historic summit in Singapore.
- His post came sandwiched between angry posts railing against Canada, Germany, and the EU over trade.
- Trump landed in Singapore on Sunday after cutting short his trip to Quebec for the G7 summit.
- The G7 summit ended in disarray after Trump refused to sign the joint communique and insulted Justin Trudeau.
Donald Trump has been tweeting about his excitement to meet Kim Jong Un while pushing US allies further away with trade war threats.
The US president tweeted on Monday: "Great to be in Singapore, excitement in the air!"
It came sandwiched between tweets railing against Canada, Germany, and the EU over their "unfair" trade with the US, and accused them of taking advantage of American workers. He also threatened to escalate a global trade war, warning: "Change is coming!"
Here are some of those tweets, sent in quick succession on Monday:
- "Fair Trade is now to be called Fool Trade if it is not Reciprocal. According to a Canada release, they make almost 100 Billion Dollars in Trade with U.S. (guess they were bragging and got caught!). Minimum is 17B. Tax Dairy from us at 270%. Then Justin acts hurt when called out!"
- "Germany pays 1% (slowly) of GDP towards NATO, while we pay 4% of a MUCH larger GDP. Does anybody believe that makes sense? We protect Europe (which is good) at great financial loss, and then get unfairly clobbered on Trade. Change is coming!"
- "Sorry, we cannot let our friends, or enemies, take advantage of us on Trade anymore. We must put the American worker first!"
G7 summit ended in chaos
Trump arrived in Singapore on Sunday in preparation for his meeting with Kim after cutting short his trip to Quebec for the G7 summit, where he met the leaders of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the EU.
The US president threw two days of diplomatic talks into disarray as he refused to sign the joint communique agreed on by all the leaders at the summit, and accused Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of making "false statements" and being "very dishonest and weak."
On Sunday, White House National Trade Council Director Peter Navarro also described Trudeau's criticism of Trump's tariffs as a "stab in the back on the way out the door." He also said there was a "special place in hell" for leaders that engaged in "bad faith diplomacy" with Trump.
The Trump administration is at odds with its closest allies - the EU, Canada, and Mexico - after imposing steel and aluminum tariffs on their imports earlier this month. The EU, Canada, and Mexico have all pledged to impose retaliatory tariffs, which Trump said should all be taken down.
Trump and Kim will meet for the first time on Tuesday at the luxury Capella hotel on Sentosa island, Singapore.