After corruption allegations, Trump says G7 summit won't be at his resort

WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump said on Saturday the next G7 summit will not be at one of his own Florida golf clubs, reversing a decision that had sparked corruption accusations.

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney had announced the venue for the summit on Thursday, causing a firestorm among Trump's Democratic opponents in Congress, who called the move "among the most brazen examples yet of the president's corruption."

"Based on both Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility, we will no longer consider Trump National Doral, Miami, as the Host Site for the G-7 in 2020," the president tweeted.

"We will begin the search for another site, including the possibility of Camp David, immediately."

Mulvaney had said in his Thursday announcement that the south Florida venue was "the best place" among a dozen US locations considered for the June 10-12 gathering next year.

Critics, including ethic campaigners, said holding the event at Doral would violate both the foreign and domestic emoluments clauses that are designed to shield a US leader from outside influence.

"He is exploiting his office and making official US government decisions for his personal financial gain," Jerry Nadler, the chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement following the Thursday announcement.

Trump is squarely in House Democrats' sights as he faces an impeachment investigation into allegations that he pressured Ukraine into interfering on his behalf in the 2020 US election.

Even before the Doral announcement, lawmakers were probing Trump's suggestion at the most recent G7 gathering in France in August that the next one could be hosted at one of his resorts.

On Friday, Congressional Democrats introduced new legislation called "Trump's Heist Undermines the G-7 (THUG) Act," which would have cut off all federal funding for the move to Doral, and require the White House to turn over all relevant documents that show how administration officials decided on the venue.

The measure had a chance of passing the Democratic-controlled House of Representatives, but its prospects of being put to a vote in the Republican-controlled Senate were slim.

Steep decline 

Trump National Doral is vital to his organization's finances and was once one of his biggest money-makers, but it has lately been in steep decline, according to The Washington Post.

The newspaper reported in May that the resort's net operating income -- the amount left after expenses are paid -- had fallen by 69 percent in two years.

Trump seemed to be aware early on of the allegations of impropriety that would follow the Doral announcement.

"We're going to have it there, and there's going to be folks who will never get over the fact that it's a Trump property. We get that, but we're still going there," Mulvaney had told reporters.

He said Doral would put on the event at cost, which he claimed would be as much as half what it would be at other venues. But he gave no estimates of the cost or comparisons.

An important draw is the club's size -- 900 acres, including three golf courses, according to Mulvaney, who said all the foreign delegations and the press could be housed "on campus."

The US last hosted the group of world leaders, then known as the G8 before Russia was disinvited, in 2012. The venue was Camp David.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Bad hair day at the summit

Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson meets U.S. President Donald Trump for bilateral talks during the G7 summit in Biarritz, France on Sunday. Leaders of the world's top economies met in France over the weekend to discuss issues ranging from the Iranian nuclear crisis to trade, and fires in the Amazon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Brazilian women must be ashamed of Bolsonaro for mocking my wife, says Macron

BIARRITZ, France - Brazilian women are probably ashamed of President Jair Bolsonaro, French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday, hitting back after the Brazilian leader mocked Macron's wife on Facebook.

The leaders have been feuding in recent weeks, with Macron blaming Bolsonaro for fires in the Amazon and accusing him of lying about climate change policy.

Bolsonaro responded on Sunday to a Facebook post that compared the looks of his wife Michelle, 37, with Macron's 66-year-old wife Brigitte.

"Do not humiliate the man hahahah," Bolsonaro wrote, in a comment widely criticized as sexist.

Asked about the incident at a news conference in Biarritz where G7 leaders are gathered for a summit, Macron said the comments were "extremely disrespectful" to his wife.

"It's sad, it's sad first of all for him and for Brazilians," Macron said. "Brazilian women are probably feeling ashamed of their president."

"Since I have a lot of esteem and respect for the people of Brazil, I hope they will very soon have a president who is up to the job," Macron added.

Later on Monday, Bolsonaro denounced Macron's plan for an international alliance to protect the Amazon, saying on Twitter that it would treat Brazil like a colony.

Brazil was angered after Macron, in the run up to the G7 summit, tweeted a photo of the burning Amazon forest, writing: "Our house is burning. Literally." Macron said he had been lied to by Bolsonaro over his commitments to fighting climate change.

In July, Bolsonaro cancelled a meeting with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian - getting a haircut instead.

Since taking office in January, Bolsonaro has railed against the enforcement of environmental regulations in Brazil and announced intentions to develop the Amazon region, where deforestation of the world's largest rainforest by loggers, ranchers and speculators has surged this year. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com

G7 pledges millions to fight Amazon fires

BIARRITZ, France - The G7 will give $20 million (18 million euros) to send firefighting planes to tackle the blazes engulfing parts of the Amazon, the presidents of France and Chile said Monday.

"We must respond to the call of the forest which is burning today in the Amazon," France's Emmanuel Macron said as President Sebastian Pinera of Chile, a guest of the G7, underlined that "countries of the Amazon are in dire need of fire brigades and water bomber planes."

Nearly 80,000 forest fires have been detected in Brazil since the beginning of the year -- just over half of them in the massive Amazon basin.

Macron had declared the situation an "international crisis" and made it a priority of the summit of the G7, which comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.

G7 leaders gathered in Biarritz held talks on the many environmental challenges facing planet Earth, with a focus on the record number of fires destroying swathes of the Amazon.

Macron has threatened to block a huge new trade deal between the EU and Latin America unless Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a climate change sceptic, takes serious steps to protect the fast-shrinking forest from logging and mining.

Bolsonaro lashed out at the French leader over his criticism and suggested NGOs could be setting the fires to embarrass him -- without giving any evidence to back the claim.

But at the weekend, he finally caved in to international pressure to save a region crucial for maintaining a stable global climate, deploying two aircraft to douse fires and authorizing the army to help tackle the blazes.

'UNIVERSAL HERITAGE'

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his country would send a water bomber plane to fight the Amazon blazes and contribute some $15 million to the effort.

The G7 also agreed to support a reforestation plan to be unveiled in September, the leaders said.

Brazil would have to agree to any reforestation plan, as would indigenous communities living in the world's biggest rainforest.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said new planting was needed "to preserve this universal heritage, which is absolutely essential for the well-being of the world's population."

He said the issue would be discussed during the UN General Assembly in New York in September.

Macron told France 2 it was hoped "at least 30 million" dollars could be raised for the project.

On Monday evening, the French leader met Brazilian indigenous chief Raoni Metuktire, who said he had asked Macron to "help us preserve our lands."

"The forests and lands of Brazil help the entire planet live," said the chief, an advocate for indigenous rights.

Greenpeace executive director Jennifer Morgan welcomed the G7 aid, but said the club must also "stop fueling the destruction of the Amazon through the import of agricultural products associated with deforestation and soil degradation."

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised 10 million pounds ($12 million) for Amazon reforestation projects, while luxury fashion giant LVMH pledged 10 million euros.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

US, France reach agreement on digital taxes

French President Emmanuel Macron said Monday G7 members had reached an agreement on the taxation of tech giants, a long-standing subject of friction between France and the US which has threatened to retaliate with tariffs on French wines.

Speaking alongside US President Donald Trump at a G7 summit in southwest France, Macron admitted that there had been "a lot of nervousness" about France's new tax on tech behemoths such as Google and Facebook.

But negotiations between France and the United States had produced "what I think is a very good deal," he said.

Macron explained that France would scrap its own digital tax once a new international levy being discussed among 134 OECD countries is in place. France hopes it will be ready in 2020.

Asked whether he would now rescind his threat to slap punitive retaliatory tariffs on French wines, Trump, who had described the French tax as "very unfair", was non-committal.

His wife Melania "loves the French wine", he joked.

The US leader, who was elected on a protectionist platform, had earlier announced that Paris and Washington were "close" to a deal.

"They want to make a deal and we'll see if we can make a deal," Trump said.

REIMBURSE EXCESS TAX

The French parliament passed its new levy in July amid frustration at the slow pace of negotiations on a new global accord to ensure tech multinationals pay a larger share of taxes on their operations.

Under EU law, American tax giants can declare their profits from across the bloc in a single jurisdiction -- in most cases low-tax jurisdictions such as Ireland or the Netherlands.

The French tax, which targets local sales rather than profits, has drawn accusations of discrimination from the so-called GAFA companies (Google, Apple, Facebook and Amazon).

It is expected to add 400 million euros ($444 million) to France's coffers this year, rising to 450 million in 2020.

Under the agreement struck in Biarritz, French tax authorities will look at how much companies paid in French "GAFA" taxes and how much they would have paid under the yet-to-be-decided international formula, French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire told AFP.

"Everything that is paid in excess compared to the international solution will be credited to the company," he added.

Britain has also announced plans for a tax on tech giants, accused of exploiting fiscal rules to sharply cut their tax bills despite soaring profits.

"Frankly, we must do something to tax fairly and properly the online businesses that have such colossal sales in our country," British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said ahead of talks with Trump in Biarritz on Saturday.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Global disputes likely to thwart unity at G7 summit in France

PARIS - Leaders of the G7 nations arrive in France on Saturday for a summit as a brewing US-China confrontation over protectionism highlighted President Emmanuel Macron's tough task in delivering meaningful results on trade, Iran and climate change.

The 3-day meeting in the Atlantic seaside resort of Biarritz takes place amid sharp differences over a clutch of global issues that risk further dividing a group of countries already struggling to pull together.

Summit host Macron wants the leaders of Britain, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States to focus on the defense of democracy, gender equality, education and climate change, and has invited leaders from Asia, Africa and Latin America to join them for a global push on these issues.

But with the trade war between China and the United States escalating, European governments struggling to defuse tensions between Washington and Tehran and global condemnation growing over illegal fires in the Amazon, his agenda could be eclipsed.

US President Donald Trump's history of pugnacity at multilateral gatherings, which brought last year's G7 summit to an acrimonious conclusion, means there is scant hope for substantive agreements. France has already decided that, to avoid another failure, there will be no final communique.

"French President Emmanuel Macron... bills the meeting as a chance to relaunch multilateralism, promote democracy and tame globalization to ensure it works for everyone," Stewart Patrick of the Council on Foreign Relations wrote.

"More likely, the gathering will expose the political, economic and ideological fault lines threatening Western solidarity and international cooperation."

Trump's walkout at the Charlevoix summit in Canada last year prompted foreign policy observers to dub the Group of Seven nations the G6+1.

US officials said Trump would tout his policies of tax cuts and deregulation and press allies to follow his example to stave off problems with the global economy.

Hours before leaving for Biarritz, Trump reacted angrily to China's move to impose retaliatory tariffs on more US goods, even saying he was ordering US companies to look at ways to close their operations in China. The president cannot legally compel US firms to abandon China immediately.

"Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years," Trump tweeted. "We don't need China and, frankly, would be better off without them."

China's President Xi Jinping is not among the Asian leaders invited to the Biarritz summit.

JOHNSON'S WORLD DEBUT

Adding to the unpredictable dynamic between the G7 leaders are the new realities facing Brexit-bound Britain: dwindling influence in Europe and growing dependency on the United States.

New Prime Minister Boris Johnson will want to strike a balance between not alienating Britain's European allies and not irritating Trump and possibly jeopardizing future trade ties. Johnson and Trump will hold bilateral talks on Sunday morning.

Even so, diplomats played down the likelihood of Trump and Johnson joining hands against the rest, citing Britain's close foreign policy alignment with Europe on issues from Iran and trade to climate change.

"There won't be a G5+2," one senior G7 diplomat said.

Johnson said ahead of the summit that Britain would not retreat from its responsibilities on the world stage after Brexit, nor sacrifice its belief in the global order.

The remarks were a riposte to those who say leaving the European Union will diminish Britain's influence on the global stage and force a pivot towards Trump's unorthodox and often confrontational approach to diplomacy.

France will deploy more than 13,000 police officers, backed by soldiers, to keep protesters away from the summit venue.

Macron will host a dinner on the waterfront on Saturday before the leaders get down to talks on Sunday and Monday on the global economy, tackling inequality and climate change.

EU leaders on Friday piled pressure on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over fires raging in the Amazon rainforest.

Macron said Bolsonaro had lied in playing down concerns about climate change at a G20 summit in Japan in June, and threatened to veto a trade pact between the European Union and the Mercosur bloc of South American countries.

Greenpeace called the deforestation an emergency that highlighted the G7 leaders' need to act on ending fossil fuels and protecting forests.

"Once again, Emmanuel Macron is making bold statements which have yet to be matched by actions," said Greenpeace France Executive Director Jean-François Julliard.

"France and other developed countries are responsible for the dire Amazon situation through their economies and contribution to imported deforestation, fueled by ill-designed policies in sectors like agriculture, timber and bio-energies."

A French diplomatic source said advisers to the G7 leaders were working on concrete initiatives to respond to the fires.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Major fashion companies to make G7 pledge to help environment

PARIS - Major fashion companies from around the world said on Friday they had signed a pact which they would present at this week's G7 summit to help protect the environment.

The pact has been signed by 32 companies including the likes of Adidas, Burberry, Kering, Hermes, LVMH and Nike.

Protecting the environment will be a leading issue at the G7, with French President Emmanuel Macron and United Nations Secretary General António Guterres having expressed concern this week over wildfires raging through the Amazon.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

As G7 feuds, Xi and Putin play up their own club

QINGDAO, China - The leaders of China and Russia Sunday praised the expansion of their regional security bloc at a summit which put on a show of unity contrasting with the acrimonious G7 meeting.

President Xi Jinping gave the leaders of Pakistan and India a "special welcome" to their first summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao, since their countries joined the group last year.

Founded in 2001, the SCO also includes the former Central Asian Soviet republics of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. 

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani, whose country is an observer member, also attended the meeting as he seeks Chinese and Russian support following the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal with Tehran.

Warning that "unilateralism, trade protectionism and a backlash against globalization are taking new forms", Xi spoke up for the "pursuit of cooperation for mutual benefit".

While never mentioning the United States by name, he added: "We should reject the Cold War mentality and confrontation between blocs, and oppose the practice of seeking absolute security of oneself at the expense of others, so as to obtain security of all."

Xi, whose government is locked in tough negotiations with the United States to avoid a trade war, said World Trade Organisation rules and the multilateral trading system should be upheld to build an open world economy.

"We should reject self-centered, shortsighted and closed-door policies," said Xi, whose own country has been accused of restricting broad access for foreign firms to its huge market.

Addressing the SCO leaders seated, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the addition of Pakistan and India means that the organisation "has become even stronger".

TRUMP VS G7 

While Xi feted his peers with fireworks, SCO members have their own disagreements, with India concerned about China's trade infrastructure project in disputed territory in arch-rival Pakistan. China and India had their own heated border dispute in the Himalayas last year.

But no disharmony was evident during the 2-day summit in Qingdao.

The show of unity was in stark contrast to the calamitous end to the Group of Seven meeting in Quebec City, after US President Donald Trump disowned a joint summit statement and lambasted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "dishonest" and "weak".

In Qingdao, Xi touted security cooperation -- the original raison d'etre of the SCO -- and announced that China would open a 30 billion yuan ($4.7 billion) special lending facility within the bloc's interbank consortium.

Putin said trade and investment among SCO countries was growing and Russia and China would propose a Eurasian economic partnership for all member states.

With the president of aspiring full member Iran looking on, Putin said Moscow still supports the Iran nuclear deal that Trump recently abandoned.

The US withdrawal, he said, "can further destabilize the situation" but Russia is in favor of the "unconditional implementation" of the pact.

Putin, however, voiced his support for Trump's summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in Singapore on Tuesday.

For his part, Rouhani said the "US effort to impose its policies on others is an expanding danger".

Rouhani said the US was monitoring the global reaction to its withdrawal from the nuclear deal, and a weak response would encourage it to carry on acting unilaterally.

"This will have many harmful consequences for the global community," he said.

The Iranian president said his country was ready to cooperate with the SCO against terrorism, extremism and separatism.

source: news.abs-cbn.com

Trade spat looms as Trump heads for hostile G7

QUEBEC CITY, Canada - Europe and hosts Canada warned US President Donald Trump on Thursday that they will not be intimidated at the G7 summit, despite fears that a trade war will weaken the Western alliance. 

With the leaders of the Group of Seven industrialized democracies due in Quebec, Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau warned the US leader that they would not roll over on trade tariffs.

And France's President Emmanuel Macron, who met Trudeau in Ottawa before they headed on to the summit, said he would rally support from his British, German and Italian counterparts before they all sit down with Trump.

"The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a six country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted in English, turning to the medium Trump has made his own.

"Because these six countries represent values, they represent an economic market which has the weight of history behind it and which is now a true international force."

Trump, of course, responded in kind.

"Please tell Prime Minister Trudeau and President Macron that they are charging the US massive tariffs and create non-monetary barriers," he tweeted. 

"The EU trade surplus with the US is $151 billion, and Canada keeps our farmers and others out. Look forward to seeing them tomorrow."

Trump, who met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Washington before the summit, may be more preoccupied with next week's historic nuclear summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

But before leaving Washington, he made clear that he too has no intention of backing down on his plan to rebalance trade by imposing tariffs on steel, aluminum and other goods imported from US allies. 

So great is the rift between traditional allies that some observers have suggested renaming the G7 summit the G6+1 -- and Macron said they should not hesitate to reach agreements without Trump.

But observers point out that the group has never before failed to agree on some form of final communique, even in 1985, when they were likewise divided over trade.

All-out trade war

Whatever the internal division between the Western leaders, the summit is also likely to face the usual external protests.

The main meetings will be held two-and-a-half hours north of Quebec City -- and of the international media center housing most of the reporters following the summit -- in La Malbaie, Charlevoix.

But a small group of around 200 anti-capitalist protesters had gathered in the provincial capital anyway on Thursday night, amid a large police operation to contain them.

As night fell on the downtown Parc des Braves the situation remained peaceful. 

Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel had already admitted it will be difficult to even agree on wording for the traditional joint communique at the two-day meeting.

Merkel said Wednesday there would be "no compromise for its own sake" and dropping the statement "may be the more honest way."

Canada's Trade Minister Francois Philippe Champagne was even more blunt, declaring: "What we are seeing is that the world economic order is under pressure, under attack."

Top White House economic advisor Larry Kudlow opposed tariffs before joining Trump's team, but now says he agrees the trade status quo hurts America.

"Until we can have reciprocal relationships, we will not have free trade, and we will not have fair trade," Kudlow said.

End of the world order

The G7 developed in part because the world's rich powers -- despite their Cold War victory -- became frustrated working through the broader multilateral system with lesser rivals.

The globalized economy they helped build had both winners and losers but, until Trump's election, the United States was seen as the system's uncontested leader and a major beneficiary. 

But since coming to office in January 2017, Trump has pulled the US out of the Paris climate accord, the Iran nuclear deal and the TPP Pacific free trade deal.

The summit begins Friday in La Malbaie, in Charlevoix, north of Quebec, and runs until Saturday, when Trump flies on to Singapore. 

source: news.abs-cbn.com