G7: Trudeau and Macron united against Trump's decision to tax its allies

Block Donald Trump without compromising disagreements but avoiding a break. So could be summed up the strategy of the French President, Emmanuel Macron, on the eve of the opening of the G7 summit, on 8 and 9 June in La Malbaie, 150 kilometers from Quebec. The atmosphere, weighed down by the beginning of a trade war between the United States and its partners, is so tense that observers are not ruling out a last minute cancellation of the arrival of the very unpredictable American president.

The French president wants to see in the transatlantic disputes - on trade, Iran or the climate - the opportunity of a renewed European solidarity. "American behavior recreates alliances and reforges the European front," said Emmanuel Macron, speaking with a small group of journalists.

The Head of State announced "to have launched a meeting of all European leaders" present in Canada - German Chancellor Angela Merkel, British Prime Minister Theresa May and the new Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte - fair before the opening of the summit. The President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the President of the European Council, Donald Tusk, will also attend the meeting. "A trade war is good for no one," says Macron.

The French initiative was coordinated with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, whose country presides over the G7 this year, which, in addition to the United States and the four Europeans, brings Canada and Japan together. On the Iranian nuclear issue as on climate or in opposition to the US decision to impose taxes on entry into the United States of steel and aluminum from European countries, the six other members of the G7 are at unison. Even Japan, more discreet, denounces the American attitude.

After meeting with his European counterparts, Macron was scheduled to meet the US President for the first time since his visit to Washington, where he had failed to shake his positions. In the face of growing criticism, particularly in France, of the inefficiency of this overjoyed friendship, the Head of State assumes. Even though Donald Trump seems less than ever inclined to concessions.
The EU, united but fragile

"We know the campaign commitments of the American president and he sticks to it. But we have the responsibility to try to convince him not to cross certain lines and to mitigate things, to pass ideas and to create a positive dynamic, "explained the French president, during a press conference at Ottawa alongside Justin Trudeau.

"I have always tried to convince Donald Trump, but I am not Donald Trump," said Emmanuel Macron, insisting on the need to clearly say the disagreements and to remain firm. It is out of the question for him to accept, for example, that the final declaration of the G7 does not mention the Paris agreement on the climate. "The six are not ready to give up everything to have the American signature. These countries represent an economic force and a larger market than that of the United States, "said the head of state.

These unprecedented tensions shake the structure created in 1975 by President Valéry Giscard d'Estaing so that the heads of state or government of the major economic powers debate the great questions and the progress of the world. Enlarged with Italy and Canada, then with Russia in 1998, it went through a first crisis in 2014 after the annexation of Crimea by Moscow.

But the crisis is of a different nature. Donald Trump challenges the very principle of an international order based on multilateral consultation. For Emmanuel Macron, "this instance of dialogue contains disagreements and prevents the most centrifugal forces from taking over". "We can not leave the United States out of this discussion, otherwise we push them towards isolationism", thus endorsing what the French president calls "a duopoly between China and the United States".

The summit of La Malbaie will be a test in this respect. No longer trusting the World Trade Organization (WTO) and other international institutions, Donald Trump believes that the defense of American interests can only happen through bilateral confrontation and, if necessary, by the unilateral offensive. The European Union, the world's largest economic bloc, is one of its first targets. It is united but fragile, as evidenced by the surge of populist and xenophobic parties, especially in Italy, where the new president of the council, Giuseppe Conte, will make his first major international release.

"I am convinced that Europe will hold its unit and will hold it in the long term on these topics," says the French president. The EU has filed a lawsuit against the United States in the WTO and has prepared customs retaliatory measures against US products. But its member states still have to agree on the list. But Germany may prefer restraint, for fear that Donald Trump will soon overtax foreign automobiles.

Saisi!