U.S. and Canada’s clash over tariffs overshadows G7 meeting

LA MALBAIE, Canada — Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied the U.S. was in a trade war Friday as he wrapped up his trip to a meeting of top diplomats from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies.

“There’s not a trade war,” Rubio said. “The United States is resetting its trade relations globally to a level of equilibrium, to a level of reciprocity.”

That comment was in direct conflict with Mélanie Joly, Canada’s foreign minister, who just hours earlier told reporters that the Trump administration “was engaging in a trade war against Canada” and European countries. On Thursday, President Donald Trump threatened 200% tariffs on alcohol from the European Union after slapping 25% tariffs on steel and aluminum from Canada on Wednesday. 

Joly said she had a very long conversation with Rubio.

“We will put maximum pressure on the Americans,” she insisted.

The contradiction between the two diplomats overshadowed the G7 meeting’s official agenda, which included Russia’s war in Ukraine and relations with China. Instead, turmoil over tariffs loomed over the gathering. The newly frosty relationship between the longtime allies unfolded as frigid temperatures greeted the foreign ministers when they first arrived for the meeting on Tuesday. On Thursday, Trump once again mocked Canada from the Oval Office as the diplomats met in Québec.

“Canada only works as a state,” Trump said. “We don’t need anything they have.”

On Friday, Joly blasted the comments and insisted she did not take them as a joke — but instead, as a serious threat.

“Canada’s sovereignty is not up for debate,” she said. “Period.”

The diplomatic tussle between the U.S. and Canada also escalated in Ottawa Friday as Mark Carney was sworn in as the new prime minister. 

“It’s crazy. His point is crazy. That’s it,” Carney said. “We will never, ever, in any way, shape or form, be part of the United States.”

After initially stressing that the topic did not come up during his conversations with G7 diplomats, Rubio was pressed about whether Trump was serious when he says Canada should become the 51st state.

“The Canadian government has made their position, how they feel about it clear. The president has made his argument as to why he thinks Canada would be better off joining the United States for economic purposes,” Rubio said. “There’s a disagreement between the President’s position and the position of the Canadian government.”

Rubio also noted the president says he loves Canada.  

Joly said she was trying to find an “off-ramp” to the trade dispute, but Rubio claimed there was no need for one because this was about the U.S. resetting its trade policy.

Rubio also said Trump’s tariff policy was not hostile to countries around the world, despite Trump calling the European Union “hostile and abusive” Thursday on social media. In the Oval Office later in the day, Trump added: “The European Union is very, very nasty.” 

During an interview with NBC News, Kaja Kallas, the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security policy, said it was an overall “good” G7 meeting and touted the discussions about Russia’s war in Ukraine and a variety of issues. But she acknowledged the EU’s diplomats didn’t like Trump’s Thursday comments.

“Of course, these kinds of statements come as a surprise because we have long been friends and allies with the United States,” she said. “We’ve done a lot of good things together.”

“We don’t really understand how we have deserved” these comments, she said.

Still, on Ukraine, the U.S. drew incrementally closer to its G7 allies Friday — at least for now. The gathering’s joint foreign ministers’ communique supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity and warned Russia to accept a ceasefire or face possible further sanctions. 

Rubio denied it marked any shift in U.S. policy. 

“I’ve never heard President Trump say that Russia has a right to take all of Ukraine and do whatever they want there,” he said. “So that’s not inconsistent with that statement.”

The agreement followed weeks of tension between U.S. allies and Trump over his Ukraine policy.

The agreement among the G7 nations — comprising Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S. — emphasized the need for “security arrangements” to secure a ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia, although Rubio declined to offer specifics on what those security arrangements might be. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, had famously clashed with Trump in the Oval Office over the issue of the U.S. providing security guarantees to move along a peace deal.

Speaking with reporters, Rubio also touted a “positive and productive engagement” between Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Russian President Vladamir Putin Thursday in Moscow, but he declined to speculate about the next steps in any ceasefire negotiations because Witkoff was still en route back to the U.S.

“I think there was reason to be optimistic,” Rubio said. “By the same token, we continue to recognize this is a difficult and complex situation.”

Rubio was asked by NBC News whether he trusted Putin.

“I think it’s an irrelevant question,” he responded. “I think in foreign policy, it’s not about trusting. It’s about action…You can’t just say you want peace. You have to do peace — and that’s true for both sides in any conflict.”

“This is not about personalities,” he added.