Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Trump to G7: "They should let Russia come back in"
Talks at the G7 summit in Canada have failed to resolve deep differences between US President Donald Trump and leaders of major industrial nations.
The divisions were laid bare on Friday, notably over trade.
Allies of the US are furious over Mr Trump's recent decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports, raising fears of a global trade war.
It is unclear whether a communique agreed by all will be released when the meeting concludes later on Saturday.
The two-day summit is being held in the town of La Malbaie, in Quebec province.
Mr Trump is due to leave early on Saturday to head to Singapore for a landmark meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Divisions wider than trade
By the BBC's diplomatic correspondent, James Robbins, Quebec
This summit started very badly, and it could end without the usual communique agreed by all.
Divisions between Mr Trump and the other six leaders go way beyond trade - they include climate change, relations with Iran and the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel is one of those arguing it might be better to set out those differences clearly rather than give a false impression of unity. It's more honest, she said, than pretending everything's OK.
Others still believe some sort of consensus can be found, and Mr Trump says he's hopeful of progress. But there's no doubt about Mr Trump's isolation.
He dislikes negotiating with groups, and he will leave well before the end of this G7 summit: next stop Singapore, to face Kim Jong-un, and seek the sort of one-to-one deal he much prefers.
Why are there divisions?
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Dairy wars: Why is Trump threatening Canada over milk?
On 1 June, the US imposed a 25% tariff for steel and 10% for aluminum on imports from the EU, Canada, and Mexico. Mr Trump said the move would protect domestic producers that were vital to US security.
The EU then announced tariffs on US goods ranging from Harley-Davidson motorcycles to bourbon. Canada and Mexico are also planning retaliatory moves.
On Friday Canada's foreign minister called the tariffs "illegal ". European Council President Donald Tusk said they threatened the "rules-based international order".
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has said she wants the EU to act with restraint.
French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed all sides were willing to reach agreement.
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Who left their mark on President Trump at the G7 summit?
What is the G7?
It is an annual summit bringing together Canada, the US, the UK, France, Italy, Japan and Germany, which represent more than 60% of global net worth between them.
Economics tops the agenda, although the meetings now always branch off to cover major global issues.
Russia was suspended from group in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine. On Friday, Mr Trump made a surprise call for Moscow to be readmitted, but German Chancellor Angela Merkel said other members were against the idea.
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption China's President Xi Jinping invited Vladimir Putin to a friendly ice hockey match on Friday
Meanwhile, another international summit is being held in China. President Xi Jinping is hosting a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional security bloc, in the eastern city of Qingdao.
President Vladimir Putin of Russia, as well as leaders from Iran, India, Pakistan, and four central Asian, are taking part.
What else is being discussed at the G7?
The five themes for this year's summit are:
Inclusive economic growth
Gender equality and women's empowerment
World security
Jobs of the future
Climate change and oceans
Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Canadian brewery marks G7 with special brew
According to the leaders' programme, Mr Trump will miss the talks on climate change, the environment and probably gender equality on Saturday.
Skip Twitter post by @EmmanuelMacron Pursuing the conversation. Engaging, keeping the dialogue alive, now & ever. Sharing, reaching out, always, to promote the interests of the French people, and all those who believe in a world we can build together. With President Donald Trump, prior to the opening of G7 Summit. pic.twitter.com/SD5hzLBO0X — Emmanuel Macron (@EmmanuelMacron) June 8, 2018 Report
The US president was the odd man out on climate change during the G7 in Italy last year, later announcing his intention to withdraw from the landmark Paris agreement.
Iran is also a sticking point. Mr Trump recently ditched the 2015 agreement aimed ar curbing Iran's nuclear programme. This angered the other signatories who have since sought to shore it up.
Washington (CNN) President Donald Trump on Friday kept up his attacks on US allies ahead of his trip to the Group of Seven summit in remote Quebec.
"Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G-7 countries," Trump wrote on Twitter early Friday morning. "If it doesn't happen, we come out even better!"
Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G-7 countries. If it doesn't happen, we come out even better! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 8, 2018
In a separate post, Trump said the host country Canada "charges the U.S. a 270% tariff on Dairy Products! They didn't tell you that, did they? Not fair to our farmers!" (Canada charges an average tariff of 249% on imported dairy products, according to the World Trade Organization , and as much as 270% on some milk substances.)
On Thursday, Trump traded barbs with French President Emmanuel Macron after Macron suggested that the G7 nations would band together without the US. On Twittter, Trump also called Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau "indignant" for his country's trade practices.
The summit comes amid a fractured moment for US alliances after the tariffs the US imposed last week on Canada, Mexico and the European Union. France and other US allies have also bristled at Trump's decision to withdraw from the Paris climate agreement.
Read More
Donald Trump has called for Russia to be readmitted to the G7 club of world leaders, opening up a new rift with US allies who swiftly contradicted him at a contentious summit in Quebec.
Although there were smiles and handshakes between Trump and his counterparts from Europe, Canada and Japan, there was no sign by Friday night that they were any closer on the deeply divisive issues of trade, climate change and policy towards Moscow.
Trump made his comments on the way to the summit, saying: “Why are we having the meeting without Russia being in the meeting? Russia should be in the meeting, it should be a part of it.”
In a Russian television interview due to be aired on Saturday, President Vladimir Putin said that dialogue with Trump could be “constructive”.
Trump is “a serious-minded person who knows how to listen to people and respond to their arguments. This leads me to believe that dialogue may prove to be constructive.”
The last meeting between Trump and Putin was a brief exchange in Vietnam last November.
In meetings on Friday with Emmanuel Macron of France and Canada’s prime minister, Justin Trudeau, a jovial Trump claimed to have good personal relations with the leaders, and claimed at his meeting with Trudeau: “We’ve made a lot of progress”.
After his session with the French president, Trump said: “The United States has had a very big trade deficit for many years with the European Union, and we’re working it out. And Emmanuel has been very helpful in that regard. And something is going to happen, and I think it will be very positive.”
However, a senior official at the summit in the resort town of La Malbaie said no headway had been made in talks about new tariffs the US has imposed on imports of steel and aluminium – and there were strong doubts that the seven leaders would be able to agree on a joint communique by the end of the two-day meeting.
“It was a predictable discussion,” the official said. “Trump recited his figures on trade. The Europeans brought up conflicting figures that showed overall they had lower tariffs than the US. It was very much six against one.”
A second official said that European leaders made “an attempt to set the record straight, pointing out that the EU and US have the most expansive trade and investment in the world, and 70% of all foreign direct investment”.
At one point, the president of the European commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, offered to visit the US to bridge the divide between the competing US and EU narratives. Trump did not accept or reject the offer, witnesses said.
Chrystia Freeland, the Canadian foreign minister, said the discussions had been “cordial” but it was clear the G7 leaders were far from agreement from a common statement. She said the sherpas, officials negotiating the consensus communique, had only had a few hours’ sleep on Thursday night.
“Work on the communique continues,” Freeland said. “We’ll see where we land ... It could be another late night for our hardworking sherpas.”
At a working dinner on Friday night, the leaders were due to discuss foreign policy, including Trump’s talks with the North Korean dictator, Kim Jong-un, on Tuesday.
With discussion of Russian policy on the agenda, Trump’s comments about Russia caused consternation among his G7 partners. The country has been suspended from the summit for four years, for its intervention in eastern Ukraine and its annexation of Crimea.
It marked a dramatic break from the position taken by the Canadian hosts, Washington’s main European allies and Trump’s own state department, who all insist Moscow must withdraw from Ukraine before normal relations are resumed.
Senior officials lined up to contradict Trump. Theresa May told Sky News: “Let’s remember why the G8 became the G7. And before discussions could begin on any of this, we would have to ensure Russia is amending its ways and taking a different route.”
Trump’s remarks on Russia cut across a UK initiative at the summit to create a rapid response unit to combat state-sponsored aggression, such as cyber-attacks and the poisoning of dissidents which have been blamed on Russia.
Freeland said Canadian officials had brought up the issue in bilateral meetings.
“Canada’s position is absolutely clear, that there are no grounds whatsoever for bringing Russia with its current behaviour back into the G7,” she said.
Trump appeared to win support from the newest invitee to the G7 attendee, the incoming Italian prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, who tweeted: “I agree with president [Trump]. Russia should re-enter the G8. It is in the interests of all.”
Other European leaders challenged Conte on his statement on Friday morning, and according to officials familiar with that meeting, he insisted that Italy’s policy had not changed, and that he thought Russia should only be readmitted when conditions were right.
Freewheeling Trump sounds off on tariffs, pardons and NFL ahead of G7 Read more
Earlier, a Russian government spokesman also appeared wary, with Dmitry Peskov, saying in a brief statement: “Russia is focused on other formats, apart from the G7.”
The remarks, at a time when Trump’s election campaign is under investigation for possible links with Moscow – raised eyebrows in Washington.
“This is weak,” Ben Sasse, a Republican senator from Nebraska, said in a swiftly issued statement. “Putin is not our friend and he is not the president’s buddy. He is a thug using Soviet-style aggression to wage a shadow war against America, and our leaders should act like it.”
Tensions were already high before the two-day summit, after a public dispute about trade between Trump and his French and Canadian counterparts, Macron and Trudeau.
At stake is the prospect of the current bout of tit-for-tat tariffs between the major western economies turning into an unrestrained international trade war.
G7 summit will be a political fistfight for European members Read more
The tone in the immediate run-up to thesummit showed no sign of compromise between a US president determined to disrupt the status quo to force more favourable terms for his country, and six US allies resolved to stop him. Trump is due to leave La Malbaie early on Saturday, missing sessions on climate change and the health of the oceans, to meet Kim Jong-un in Singapore.
Trump had sparred with other G7 leaders over trade well into the night before the summit, accusing the EU and Canada of unfair business practices, and then resumed his polemic around 6am US time, complaining about Canadian dairy tariffs.
“Looking forward to straightening out unfair trade deals with the G7 countries,” Trump tweeted. “If it doesn’t happen, we come out even better!”
Donald Tusk, the president of the European council, said the summit would be “far from easy”.
“What worries me most is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects, but by its main architect and guarantor, the US,” Tusk said at a press conference in La Malbaie.
“We will not stop trying to convince president Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all, because it will only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-west order, where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist. This is in the interest of neither the US nor Europe.”
May, who sat next to Trump at Friday’s afternoon session, was forthright in her criticism of his decision to introduce tariffs. She described his actions as “deeply regrettable”, and said that to seek to justify a move that would damage the economies of some of the US’s closest allies on the grounds of national security “makes it harder to understand and to explain to our businesses and our electorate”.
May also warned that WTO-sanctioned tariffs would become unavoidable unless a way back was found quickly. The EU has submitted restrictions on US goods from denim to Harley Davidson motorbikes due to come in by next month. May made it clear that she did not want the situation to escalate.
“If you tax trade through tariffs there is no guarantee that domestic sources will replace it, plus the loss of trade undermines competition it reduces productivity removes the incentive to innovate and makes everyone former.”
On Thursday, Macron berated Trump for imposing unilateral tariffs rather than going through international arbitration, and for walking out of a multilateral nuclear deal with Iran.
“The risk is to create a world of survival of the fittest. That is not good for us nor for any of our friends in the world,” Macron tweeted. “Tensions are mounting everywhere. This G7 is going to be demanding.”
'One way in, one way out': why G7 summits are in such remote locations
Until the leaders of the seven most economically advanced nations in the world descended on it, the Charlevoix region of Quebec was perhaps best known for the beauty of its landscapes and the opulence of its state-run casino in La Malbaie. It is also a remote tourist destination, reached by way of an often perilous one-lane highway, and has a population density lower than the (already sparse) national average.
Donald Trump calls for G7 to readmit Russia Read more
This is no coincidence. Though it poses certain logistical issues, Charlevoix’s isolation is perhaps its greatest asset when it comes to staging a meeting of these world leaders. In an era where mass protests of such things are a given, Charlevoix offers a key security feature: it is difficult for protesters to get there, harder still to circulate and near impossible to escape the eye of law enforcement.
“One way in, one way out,” says Alan Bell, president of the Toronto-based security consulting firm Global Risk International. “If you go back to some recent G7 and G20 meetings, the downtown core always gets trashed. What they want to do is zero in on the protesters. If they want to come, they basically have to walk in.”
The practice of holding such huge and consequential meetings in hard-to-reach places is relatively new. The first G6 summit was held in 1975 in the Parisian exurb of Rambouillet. The meeting was a low-key affair that dealt almost exclusively in global economic matters. Protests were non-existent; the only delay, it seems, was a result of the Soviet general secretary Leonid Brezhnev’s perpetual exhaustion, according to news clippings of the day. Canada, which joined the group in 1976, held subsequent G7 meetings in Ottawa (in 1981) Toronto (in 1988) and Halifax in 1995. (Russia was admitted in 1998.)
Everything changed with the teargas-drenched spectacle known as “the Battle of Seattle”. In 1999, 60,000 protesters demonstrated at the meeting of the World Trade Organization, fomenting what has become an enduring anti-globalization movement.
Facebook Twitter Pinterest Demonstrators travel down a Seattle street during protests in 1999. Photograph: Eric Draper/AP
This large and diffuse group of trade unionists, NGOs, workers and black bloc members managed to disrupt the proceedings. The ensuing damage, and the images of police phalanxes doing battle with mostly unarmed protesters, were a headache for the city, law enforcement and world leaders alike.
“World leaders were taken off guard. A lot of planning and organization went into the protests, and it all aligned in Seattle,” says Barry Eidlin, an assistant professor of sociology at McGill University in Montreal. “The retreat from the city is itself a response to these mass mobilization tactics.”
What they want to do is zero in on the protesters Alan Bell
The G8 meetings held in Canada since Seattle have taken place in Kananaskis, Alberta, and Muskoka, Ontario – like Charlevoix, remote locations to which access can be tightly controlled. In Charlevoix, a designated red zone restricts entrance to residents and summit participants, with a larger fenced-in “green zone” surrounding it, accessible only to those with accreditation. Beyond this is the white zone, the notable home to the summit’s so-called “free speech zone” where protesters can vent – 2km from where Donald Trump and his six peers will gather. The summit and associated meetings will cost Canadian taxpayers more than $600m.
In 2010, Toronto provided a Canadian cautionary tale to the pitfalls of urban-held trade meetings. That year, police “kettled” more than 1,000 protesters –corralling then holding them outdoors for hours on end during a torrential downpour. It led to the high-profile disciplining of a senior Toronto police officer and an enduring black eye for the force.
There probably won’t be a similar event this weekend. Though there have already been limited protests in Quebec City, a massive police presence and the sheer distance to Charlevoix has apparently dulled the outrage.
Of course, those who would like to hark back to the old days of protest-free trade meetings can look forward to the 2020 G20 summit in the Saudi capital of Riyadh, where access is all but impossible given foreigners need permission to visit, and free expression is often outlawed completely.
