Trump paints picture of unity at G7 summit

US President Donald Trump said yesterday he was getting along well with Western allies at a G7 summit in France, dismissing reports of rifts among leaders.

He backed British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as the “right man” for Brexit and sent mixed signals about his trade war with China.

Johnson and Trump were on obviously friendly terms as they sat down for a working breakfast in the southern French resort of Biarritz where Group of Seven leaders are gathering this weekend.

“He’s going to be a fantastic prime minister,” Trump said in their first meeting since Johnson took office last month.

Asked what his advice was for Brexit, Trump replied: “He needs no advice. He’s the right man for the job. I’ve been saying that for a long time.”

In the lead-up to the talks, Johnson had appeared at pains to distance himself from Trump after facing accusations in the past of being too cosy with the American leader.

And at their meeting, Johnson again pressed a common message from European leaders at the summit about Trump’s escalating trade war with China.

“Just to register a faint, sheep-like note of our view on the trade war -- we are in favour of trade peace on the whole,” Johnson told Trump.

The 73-year-old US leader promised Johnson “very big trade deal, bigger than we’ve ever had”, but couldn’t resist another undiplomatic dig at the European Union.

Trump compared it to an “anchor around their ankle”.

RESPECT THE TRADE WAR

But to the relief of his partners, Trump also appeared to back off from a threatened further escalation in his battle with China.

“I think they respect the trade war. It has to happen,” Trump told reporters.

Asked whether he was having second thoughts, he replied: “I have second thoughts about everything.”

Trump’s spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham, however, told reporters at the G7 summit that the president’s earlier comments had been misunderstood.

“The president was asked if he had ‘any second thought on escalating the trade war with China’. His answer has been greatly misinterpreted,” she said.

“President Trump responded in the affirmative -- because he regrets not raising the tariffs higher.”

Trump appeared to brush aside French efforts to mediate with Iran yesterday, saying that while he was happy for President Emmanuel Macron to reach out to Tehran to defuse tensions he would carry on with his own initiatives.

The French presidency said G7 leaders had even agreed that Macron should hold talks and pass on messages to Iran after they discussed the issue over dinner at the summit on Saturday evening, reported Reuters.

However, Trump, who has pushed a maximum pressure policy on Iran, pushed back.

Asked if he had signed off on a statement that Macron intends to give on behalf of the G7 on Iran, Trump said: “I haven’t discussed this. No I haven’t,” he told reporters, adding that Macron and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe were free to talk to Iran.

“We’ll do our own outreach, but, you know, I can’t stop people from talking. If they want to talk, they can talk.”

ANTI-G7 ACTIVISTS

The Basque resort of Biarritz, which at this time of year usually teems with surfers and sunbathers, has been turned into a fortress for the G7 event with over 13,000 police on duty.

Several hundred anti-G7 protesters staged an unusual protest in southwestern France yesterday, holding “stolen” portraits of Macron which were held upside down in a pointed critique on his policies, reported AFP.

Demonstrators at the so-called “portrait march” were carrying official portraits of the 41-year-old French leader which had been taken down from town halls across the country over the last few months.

The climate and social justice march was organised by environmental activist group ANV COP 21, as well as two Basque groups Alternatiba et Bizi all of whom were marching under a slogan which pledged to “take down Macron”.

“One, two, three degrees, it’s a crime against humanity!” they chanted as they marched through the narrow streets of Bayonne near the southwestern French resort of Biarritz.

“We are holding him upside down to show the lack of sense in his policies,” explained a Bizi activist called Mathieu.

G7 summits, gathering Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, were once a meeting of like-minded allies, but they have become a diplomatic battlefield in the Trump era.

“This may be the last moment to restore our political community,” EU Council president Donald Tusk said on Saturday.