World leaders have gathered in France for the G7 summit in France, a meeting that European Council President, Donald Tusk said will be a “difficult test of unity and solidarity” due to deep divisions over a range of issues including trade and climate change.
Major policy differences over trade protectionism, climate change, Iran and France’s push for a universal tax on digital technology looming over the summit in the Atlantic coastal resort of Biarritz.
The G7 gathering is taking place against a backdrop of growing worries about a global economic downturn and coincides with an era of international disunity across an array of issues that have strained decades-old allegiances.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump said he was getting along well with his Western allies at a G7 summit in France, dismissing reports of rifts among leaders.
Trump arrived in France just hours after escalating his trade war with China in a tit-for-tat battle between the world’s two largest economies that has spooked financial markets.
There are also deep divisions within the European camp, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson making his G7 debut at a time when he is struggling to persuade EU capitals to renegotiate Britain’s exit from the bloc.
Brexit Britain will have a major trade deal with the United States, Trump told Johnson on Sunday, adding that the new prime minister was the right man to take his country out of the European Union.
President Trump also responds to concerns about how the markets are responding to the tariffs, saying their is no recession although the US is facing a horrible trade deals.
