G7 finance chiefs kick trade dispute to leaders' summit in Quebec
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E-mail CGTN, June 3, 2018
Finance leaders of the closest US allies vented anger over the Trump administration's metal import tariffs but ended a three-day meeting in Canada on Saturday with no solutions, setting the stage for a heated fight at a G7 summit next week in Quebec.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to soothe the frustrations of his Group of Seven counterparts over the 25 percent steel and 10 percent aluminum tariffs that Washington imposed on Mexico, Canada and the European Union this week.
The other six G7 member countries asked Mnuchin to bring to President Donald Trump "a message of regret and disappointment" over the tariffs, Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau said at a press conference after the end of a three-day meeting in the Canadian mountain resort town of Whistler, British Columbia.
"We're concerned that these actions are actually not conducive to helping our economy, they actually are destructive, and that is consistently held across the six countries that expressed their point of view to Secretary Mnuchin," he added.
In a statement issued by Canada, the G7 finance officials agreed that "decisive action is needed" on the tariff issue at a summit of G7 leaders next week in Charlevoix, Quebec.
Speaking separately after the meeting, frequently referred to as the "G6 plus one," Mnuchin told reporters he was not part of the summary statement and said Trump was focused on "rebalancing our trade relationships."
Mnuchin rejected comments from some G7 officials that the US was circumventing international trade rules with the tariffs or ceding global economic leadership.
"I don't think in any way the US is abandoning its leadership in the global economy, quite the contrary. I think that we've had a massive effort on tax reform in the US which has had a incredible impact on the US economy," Mnuchin said.
The US Treasury chief said he has already relayed some of the G7 comments to Trump and added that the US president would address trade issues with other G7 leaders, but declined to speculate on any outcomes.
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