Morneau, speaking at the end of the Group of Seven ministerial meeting, said that the finance ministers and central bank governors were unanimously opposed at the harsh US steel and aluminum tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire also expressed his anger as the meetings ended.
"I want to make it clear," Le Maire said, "that it is up to the US administration to make the right decisions to alleviate the situation and ease the difficulties." He said that events next week "will depend on the decision the (US) administration is ready to take in the next few days and in the next few hours - I'm not talking about weeks ahead," Le Maire said.
Outraged leaders from the world's major economies launched legal challenges Friday after announcing countermeasures to retaliate against harsh steel and aluminum tariffs that Trump allowed to take effect. No joint final statement emerged from the G7 ministerial meeting, a sign of the strong discord as the world's major economies verged on open trade conflict.
The European Union and Canada are the largest US exporters of steel and aluminum respectively. Trump's tariffs on America's largest foreign providers of the crucial metals upended the agenda for this normally convivial event for consensus-building among countries that account for about half of global GDP.
Finance ministers at this snow-capped mountain resort north of Vancouver, British Columbia instead spoke of exasperation and an abiding sense of betrayal by a long-time ally.