The leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations Saturday managed to issue a joint communique following "heated" discussions in Canada, but their annual summit ended in a war of words with U.S. President Donald Trump abruptly backing off from the agreement he signed hours before.
"We acknowledge that free, fair and mutually beneficial trade and investment, while creating reciprocal benefits, are key engines for growth and job creation," said the statement issued after the meeting in Quebec's Charlevoix region, where trade was the major source of division between the United States and the remaining six.
Expressing a commitment to modernize the World Trade Organization "to make it more fair as soon as possible," the communique said, "We strive to reduce tariff barriers, non-tariff barriers and subsidies." It also maintained the phrase "to fight protectionism," which was also used last year.