OTTAWA — Donald Trump may have a world view incompatible with fellow global leaders, but his presence is still desired at the G7, representatives from most of its member states told HuffPost Canada Tuesday.
Over the weekend, France's finance minister, Bruno Le Maire, expressed deep frustration after the United States president used a national security clause to hit his country's most stable political and military allies with punitive tariffs on aluminum and steel imports.
"It has been a tense and tough G7," Le Maire said in Whistler, B.C., where the G7 finance ministers were gathered. "It has been far more a G6 plus one than a G7. We regret that our common work at the level of the G7 has been put at risk by the decisions taken by the American administration on trade and on tariffs."
Le Maire tweeted Tuesday that if the U.S. wants to "renew its dialogue with its historical allies, it was up to them to take the first step and show willingness to co-operate with clear signs of de-escalation."
Canada, which is hosting the meeting of the world's top liberal democracies in Charlevoix, Que., Friday and Saturday, refused to set conditions on the Americans' participation. Trump is still expected to attend the gathering, a senior government official said.
Any musings about a G6 being more productive without the U.S. president would send the wrong message, another senior official said.
"What I can tell you is that we are going to make the G7 as productive as we can," Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's spokesman, Cameron Ahmad, told HuffPost.
