Top EU Figure Accuses US President of Challenging 'International Order'

The European Union president Donald Tusk expressed worries that US President Donald Trump is in fact threatening the rules-based international order established in the wake of the Cold War by his attempts to break or renegotiate a number of international agreements.

News ID: 70611

Date: 09 June 2018 - 14:29

TEHRAN (Defapress)- "We will not stop trying to convince our American friends and President Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all, because it 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," Tusk declared, World News reported.

“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 said at a press conference ahead of the 44th G7 summit in the Canadian town of La Malbaie on Friday.

European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker suggested to Trump that the US and EU conduct a joint assessment of trade between the parties, arguing that the steel and aluminum tariffs recently imposed against Europe by the United States were based on “a misreading of trade data”, an official who followed the talks told Reuters.

"Donald, I am ready to come to Washington as soon as possible to have a common assessment. I want this issues to be resolved in a friendly manner," the official quoted Juncker as saying, adding that the latter "received a nod of acceptance in response".

In June 2017, Trump announced that he would pull his country out of the 2015 global agreement to fight climate change, known as the Paris Agreement, characterizing the move as “a reassertion of American sovereignty”.

The American leader in May 2018 walked away from the landmark nuclear agreement, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which was reached between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - plus Germany.

Furthermore, Trump decided in March 2018 to restrict the import of metals from the EU, imposing 25-percent tariffs on steel and 15-percent tariffs on aluminum.

The two-day G7 summit kicked off in Canada on June 8. The high-profile event is being attended by the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

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