Israel launched its initial strikes on Iran on Friday, alleging that Tehran’s nuclear program had crossed an unacceptable threshold. The move upended weeks of American diplomacy aimed at trying to find a diplomatic off-ramp.
During his roughly 24 hours in Canada, Trump met with several other leaders, including Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. But he emerged with only a single major announcement: A proclamation on the implementation of a U.S.-U.K. trade deal that was reached a month ago.
Trump downplayed any urgency to strike additional trade deals before his self-imposed July 8 deadline for reapplying additional “reciprocal” tariffs on dozens of countries.
“We’re actually finished with every deal if you think about it because all I have to do is say this is what you’re going to pay,” he said.
Trump did contribute to one show of solidarity among a G7 that has increasingly struggled to find common ground, signing a joint statement on the Israel-Iran conflict after initially refusing to endorse it.
But asked why the U.S.’s position on the statement had changed, Trump said he hadn’t been closely involved — and had yet to even see the final version.
“I haven’t seen the statement yet, but I authorized them to say certain things,” he said. “I don’t know whether or not they said them correctly. But I think they probably did.”