Trudeau and Merkel talk trade, climate change ahead of June G7 summit
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has spoken to German Chancellor Angela Merkel about making progress on climate change and combating protectionism when they meet at the G7 next month in Quebec.
Both are hot button topics with President Donald Trump, who will be making his Canadian debut at the June 8-9 gathering in Quebec’s Charlevoix region.
Merkel is the G7’s longest-serving leader and has clashed with Trump in the past, including at his first summit last year in Italy.
Trump’s trip to Canada is generating concerns among diplomats and analysts that Trudeau could wind up hosting a summit that could fracture the G7 into a so-called six-plus-one configuration with the U.S. as an outlier.