G7 Nations Respond To Trump's Rejection Of Joint Statement: 'Let's Be Serious'

By Matt Shuham | June 10, 2018 1:25 pm

Fellow G7 members responded harshly to President Donald Trump’s refusal to sign a previously agreed-upon joint statement authored by all seven nations at a summit this weekend, with Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland on Sunday pointedly condemning Trump and his advisers’ “ad hominem attacks.”

“We spent two days to obtain a text and commitments. We will stand by them and anyone who would depart from them, once their back was turned, shows their incoherence and inconsistency,” French President Emmanuel Macron’s office said in a statement as translated by Politico.

“International cooperation cannot be dictated by fits of anger and throwaway remarks,” the statement added, according to German public broadcaster Deutsche Welle. “Let’s be serious and worthy of our people. We make commitments and keep them. France and Europe maintain their support for this statement.”

German Minister of Foreign Affairs Heiko Maas was quoted in the same DW article as saying Trump’s late refusal to sign the painstakingly-crafted document was “actually not a real surprise.”

“We have seen this with the climate agreement or the Iran deal,” he said. “In a matter of seconds, you can destroy trust with 280 twitter characters,” Maas remarked, a reference to Trump’s tweet rejecting the joint communiqué.

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