Trump deepens G7 divide with call to readmit Russia

President Donald Trump drove the wedge splitting Washington from its Western allies even deeper today with a shock call for Russia to be readmitted to the G7 club of nations.

As the heads of the top industrialized democracies embarked on the two-day G7 summit in rural Quebec, European leaders warned that Trump's stance on trade, the climate, Iran and -- now -- Russia sets him apart.

Already angered by Trump's imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum -- and planning to respond with measures of their own that could spiral into a trade war -- the allies now fear a rift in the united western front against Russian aggression.

Before jumping on Air Force One to fly to Canada, which is hosting the summit in La Malbaie north of Quebec City, Trump called for a return to the body's pre-2014 "G8" formula. "They threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table," the US leader said before boarding the presidential jet.

Moscow was expelled from the rich nations club, which sees itself as a guarantor of rules-based order and the global economy, over its annexation of Ukraine's Crimea region.

While Italy's new premier Giuseppe Conte, head of a populist coalition, had suggested he supports Trump's call, French President Emmanuel Macron assembled the European G7 leaders before the summit and confirmed unanimous opposition.

Donald Tusk, the former Polish leader attending as president of the European Council, saw the call for Russia's return as part of a raft of unilateral measures imposed by Trump that have driven Washington apart from US allies.

"It is evident that the American president and the rest of the group continue to disagree on trade, climate change and the Iran nuclear deal," Tusk admitted. Tusk warned that "the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor, the US."
And he said Trump's determination to bait his allies over trade and diplomatic engagements "would only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist."
"The American president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six country agreement if need be," Macron said in a tweet. Trudeau told reporters the US national security justification for the tariffs on steel and aluminum was "laughable."