Trudeau, Trump discuss accelerating NAFTA talks at G7
Quebec (Canada), June 9 : Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump discussed accelerating the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA) talks during a bilateral meeting at the ongoing G7 summit here.
"The Prime Minister and the President had a very positive, productive meeting and it lasted longer than originally scheduled," CBC News quoted a senior Canadian government official as saying on Friday.
"They did discuss NAFTA at length and they discussed the future of NAFTA, and I would say they also talked about accelerating the talks."
Speaking after the meeting with Trudeau, Trump said he had a positive meeting with the Canadians during which NAFTA was the principal topic of discussion.
"We had a very positive meeting a little while ago on NAFTA. So this is turning out to be an interesting day. But we had a very, very good meeting on NAFTA with Justin and his representatives," Trump said.
The reportedly positive tone of the leaders' one-on-one meeting stood in stark contrast to a week of increasingly testy public statements by Trump, following Canada's announcement last week that it would impose $16.6 billion in tariffs against US products on July 1 in retaliation against the American tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminium.
Trump's only other bilateral meeting on Friday was with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, CBC News reported.
Like Trudeau, Trump has sparred publicly with Macron on Twitter over what the US President calls unfair trade deals that impoverish American interests to the benefit of its allies. But on the tariffs, the leaders sounded a bit optimistic on Friday.
"We had a very direct and open discussion," Macron told reporters Friday of his one-on-one with Trump.
"And I saw the willingness on all the sides to find agreements and have a win-win approach for our people, our workers, and our middle classes."
Besides the bilateral meetings, the G7 leaders took part in two working groups where discussion of trade was front and centre.
Before leaving for the summit, Trump called for reinstating Russia into the group of top industrialised nations after its expulsion for annexing Crimea, reports the BBC.
But German Chancellor Angela Merkel said all the European Union members were against the idea.
Trump will the two-day summit early to head to Singapore for his landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
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'Another jumla': Rahul Gandhi slams PM Modi over Employment Linked Incentive scheme
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New Delhi (PTI): Attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the government's 'Employment Linked Incentive' scheme, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Friday said while he creates new slogans everyday, the youth are still waiting for real opportunities, and asked if it was "just another jumla".
The Leader of Opposition in the Lok Sabha said that after the 2024 election, PM Modi announced the "Employment Linked Incentive" scheme with much fanfare, promising to provide employment to our youth.
"It's been nearly a year since announcing the scheme, the government hasn't even defined it, and has returned the Rs 10,000 crores allotted to it. This shows how serious the PM is about unemployment," he alleged without elaborating the claim.
There was no immediate response from the government on it.
Gandhi said jobs can't be created by focusing only on large corporates, promoting cronies over fair-play businesses, prioritising assembly over production, and disregarding India's indigenous skills.
"The way to create crores of jobs is through large-scale investment in MSMEs, fair markets where competition can thrive, support for local production networks and youth equipped with the right skills," he said.
"The PM won't agree with these ideas. But I must ask him directly: Prime Minister ji, you announced ELI with great showmanship - but where has this Rs 10,000 crore scheme disappeared? Have you abandoned our unemployed youth along with your promises?"
"While you create new slogans every day, our youth are still waiting for real opportunities. What is your concrete plan to generate the crores of jobs India desperately needs, or is this just another jumla?" he said.
Gandhi further asked when will the PM shift his focus from enriching Adani and his "billionaire friends" to ensuring that young people from marginalised communities have equal access to employment.
