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Reuters

Agence France-Presse

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 the G7 summit next week in Quebec.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin failed to soothe the frustrations of his Group of Seven (G7) counterparts over the 25 per cent steel and 10 per cent aluminium tariffs that Washington imposed on Mexico, Canada and the European Union this week.
“Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors requested that the United States Secretary of the Treasury communicate their unanimous concern and disappointment,” the group said in a summary statement written by Canada.
“Ministers and Governors agreed that this discussion should continue at the Leaders’ Summit in Charlevoix (Quebec), where decisive action is needed,” the statement said.
Bourbon, blue jeans and steel: here’s how the EU will fight US trade war
All six of the other G7 countries are now paying the tariffs, which are largely aimed at curbing excess production in China. The topic dominated discussions at the finance meeting in the Canadian mountain resort of Whistler, British Columbia.
French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire warn the United States has only a few days to avoid sparking a trade war with its allies and it is up to the United States to make a move to defuse tensions over tariffs.

#Tariffs on #steel and #aluminium & risk of a trade war : the ball is now in the United States’ court ! #G7 pic.twitter.com/j017Bfo9Hy
— Bruno Le Maire (@BrunoLeMaire) June 2, 2018

“The next week will depend on the decision the administration is ready to take in the next few days and in the next few hours – I’m not talking about weeks ahead,” he said. “I want to make it clear … that it is up to the US administration to make the right decisions to alleviate the situation and ease the difficulties.”
Speaking after the meeting, Le Maire said the EU was poised to take counter-measures against the US.
Will Trump’s tariffs on allies be the start of a global trade war?
“Everyone expressed their complete incomprehension of the American decisions and everyone said it was up to the Americans to take the next step since they were the ones who imposed the tariffs,” Le Maire told reporters.

The meeting of top economic policymakers was seen as a prelude to the trade disputes that will dominate the two-day G7 summit that begins on Friday in Quebec.
Chairing a meeting on Friday, Morneau allowed participants to register grievances with Mnuchin one at a time, according to a Canadian source.
“On trade, over the course of the last couple of days there was an important difference of opinion,” Canadian Finance Minister Bill Morneau told reporters after hosting a meeting with his G7 counterparts in the mountain resort town of Whistler, British Columbia.
Trudeau refuses to meet Trump over Pence’s ‘unacceptable’ Nafta demand
“The Americans have decided, in our mind, to take actions that’s not at all constructive, it’s actually destructive to our ability to get things done around tariffs on steel and aluminium,” he said after the meeting ended.

Behind closed doors, Mnuchin listened but spoke little, saying instead the discussion could continue at next week’s G7 summit in Quebec, Canada at which Trump is expected to participate, according to several sources briefed on the talks.
Mnuchin said he had informed Trump of his discussions but that trade was only one of many issues on a full agenda.
“These are our most important allies or some of our most important allies. We’ve had long-standing relationships with all these countries that are very important across all different aspects,” Mnuchin told reporters.
“I believe there was a comment out there that this was the G6 plus one. It was not. This was the G7. We believe in the G7.”
G7 governments were also digesting Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on hundreds of billions of dollars in US auto imports on purported national security grounds.
Mnuchin is regarded as one of the more moderate voices on trade in the Trump administration,
The US steel and aluminium tariffs were imposed early on Friday after Canada, Mexico and the EU refused to accept quotas in negotiations with US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Japanese metal producers have been paying the tariffs since March 23.
Officials at the G7 meeting said the tariffs made it more difficult for the group to work together to confront China’s trade practises, especially when Beijing, like most G7 members, supports the current World Trade Organisation-based trade rules and the United States is seeking to go around them.


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US must de-escalate tariff tensions in next few days to avoid trade war, France warns

Ministers and delegates including Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Philip Hammond, U.K. chancellor of the exchequer, Steven Mnuchin, U.S. Treasury secretary, and Bill Morneau, Canada's minister of finance, attend the group photo during the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on Friday, June 1, 2018. The meeting provides an opportunity for finance and development ministers to advance solutions to issues of shared priority, including women's economic empowerment and mobilizing increased financing for development. Photographer: Darryl Dyck/Bloomberg

Bill Morneau, Canada's minister of finance, right, speaks while Marie-Claude Bibeau, Canada's minister of international development and La Francophonie, listens during the G7 finance ministers and central bank governors meeting in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada, on Friday, June 1, 2018. The meeting provides an opportunity for finance and development ministers to advance solutions to issues of shared priority, including women's economic empowerment and mobilizing increased financing for development. Photographer: Darryl Dyck/Bloomberg

United States Secretary of the Treasury Steven Mnuchin listens during a meeting at the G7 Finance Ministers Summit in Whistleria, Canada. Photo: Reuters

After alienating allies with tariffs, Donald Trump is entering China trade talks ‘unprotected and alone’

Punitive tariffs are the latest move by US President Donald Trump that has left America’s allies reeling. Photo: Reuters

epa04824243 (L-R) European Commission President Jean Claude Juncker, China's Premier Li Keqiang and European Council President Donald Tusk during a signing ceremony after the 17th bilateral EU-China summit at the European Council headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, 29 June 2015. Reports state that leaders discussed political and economic relations, global challenges and regional and foreign policy issues. EPA/JOHN THYS / POOL

(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 16, 2018 EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker gives a joint press with United Nations Secretary-General after their bilateral meeting at the EU headquarters in Brussels. The EU will announce retaliation for US metal tarrifs within 'hours' EU Commission President Jean Claude Juncker announced on May 31, 2018 / AFP PHOTO / JOHN THYS

FILE - In this March 31, 2017 file photo, National Trade Council adviser Peter Navarro appears before President Donald Trump arrives to sign executive orders regarding trade in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington. After striking a delicate deal with the United Arab Emirates on rules for airline competition, the Trump administration went to war with itself about what the agreement actually said. White House trade adviser Peter Navarro repeatedly contradicted the State Department’s carefully crafted script. Behind the scenes, a dizzying scene of one-upmanship, word games and subtle subterfuge played out, magnified by lobbyists seeking to exploit divisions within the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau takes part in a news conference in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, May 31, 2018. REUTERS/Chris Wattie

EU leaders slam Trump’s ‘illegal’ tariffs, threaten retaliation as world teeters on edge of global trade war

Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has slammed Trump’s punitive aluminium tariffs, saying they are an affront to their long-standing security partnership. Photo: Reuters

Emmanuel Macron, France's president, speaks at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) forum in Paris, France, on Wednesday, May 30, 2018. President Donald Trump's unilateral tariff measures are necessary to fix a broken global trade system and the U.S., like other nations, should focus on its own interests, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross. Photographer: Christophe Morin/Bloomberg

German Chancellor Angela Merkel at a news conference following a European Union (EU) leaders summit in Brussels on Feb. 23, 2018. MUST CREDIT: Bloomberg photo by Dario Pignatelli.