Letter: Our President’s Latest Controversy

Over time, our president continues to initiate new disagreements between the U.S. and our traditional allies.

The latest involved the Group of Seven (G7) conference in Quebec, the annual meeting with the United States and six of the other more developed countries, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.

One topic discussed was our president’s decision to put U.S. “national security” tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from any of these countries.

Some economists believe that this could trigger a damaging trade war that would negatively affect U.S. farmers’ and companies’ ability to sell their products abroad, and cutting workers’ wages and their purchasing power.

As our president left to attend the conference, he also suggested that Russia should be included in this meeting. Russia was suspended from the group after its 2014 annexation of Crimea.

This is just the latest in a series of disagreements over climate change, trade, NATO, the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Iran, and a growing number of other issues.

How much does the accumulation of these incidents destroy our credibility and erode the trust and confidence of our allies? And what is it doing to public opinion and public views of the United States?