Donald Trump in his own words, after meeting with the G7 in Quebec

LA MALBAIE, Que. — Donald Trump held a free-flowing news conference as he departed the G7 summit on Saturday. It was his first visit to Canada as president of the United States, and he stayed about 24 hours. Here are some highlights from his comments:

On Canada and the summit: “It has worked out to be so wonderful. The people of Canada are wonderful, and it’s a great country, and a very beautiful country.”

On the state of global trade: “From the standpoint of trade and jobs and being fair to companies, we are really, I think, committed. I think they are starting to be committed to a much more fair trade situation for the United States, because it has been treated very, very unfairly….And I don’t blame other leaders for that. I blame our past leaders. There was no reason that this should have happened.”

On the North Korea summit: “I’ll be on a mission of peace, and we will carry in, really — in my heart, we’re going to be carrying the hearts of millions of people, people from all over the world. We have to get denuclearization. We have to get something going. We really think that North Korea will be a tremendous place in a very short period of time. And we appreciate everything that’s going on. We appreciate the working together with North Korea. They’re really working very well with us.”

On bringing Russia back into the G7: “I think it would be an asset to have Russia back in. I think it would be good for the world. I think it would be good for Russia. I think it would be good for the United States. I think it would be good for all of the countries of the current G7.”

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On the ultimate goal for global trade rules: “You want a tariff-free, you want no barriers, and you want no subsidies, because you have some cases where countries are subsidizing industries, and that’s not fair. So you go tariff-free, you go barrier-free, you go subsidy-free. ….

“It’s got to change. It’s going to change. I mean, it’s not a question of ‘I hope it changes.’ It’s going to change, a hundred per cent. And tariffs are going to come way down, because people cannot continue to do that. We’re like the piggy bank that everybody is robbing. And that ends.”

On renegotiating NAFTA: “So two things can happen on NAFTA. We’ll either leave it the way it is, as a threesome deal with Canada and with the United States and Mexico, and change it very substantially — we’re talking about very big changes. Or we’re going to make a deal directly with Canada and directly with Mexico. Both of those things could happen.”

On rating G7 friendships: “I would say that the level of relationship is a 10. We have a great relationship. Angela and Emmanuel and Justin. I would say the relationship is a 10.”

The Canadian Press

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