‘Family quarrel’: Kudlow shrugs off escalating Canada-U.S. trade dispute
QUEBEC — Donald Trump’s top economic adviser dismissed differences over tariffs as a “family quarrel” Wednesday as reports of a testy phone call between the president and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau roiled Canada-U.S. relations ahead of this week’s G7 summit.
The fallout from Trump’s imposition of steel and aluminum tariffs on his G7 partners, as well as broader disagreements on trade and climate change, was also fuelling the G6-plus-one divide that has the U.S. increasingly offside with its allies.
Trudeau wanted the G7 to be a moment for Canada to shine, but the summit is rapidly turning into an exercise in pure survival: prevent Trump from taking a wrecking ball to the exclusive club of the world’s leading democracies, to say nothing of the country’s most critical trade nexus.
U.S. senior economic adviser Larry Kudlow played down his country’s trade dispute with Canada, and said he hoped Trump and Trudeau could work through their differences during their face-to-face meeting at the summit, which opens Friday.