七国集团领导人讨论贸易、关税和如何应对特朗普

G7 Leaders to Talk Trade, Tariffs² and Trump³

When leaders from seven of the major industrial countries, known as the G7, meet in Canada, it will likely be the G6 and the United States.

Canada’s finance minister Bill Morneau says the focus of the meeting will be on trade – especially what he has called U.S. President Donald Trump’s “absurd” tariffs.

Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the U.S. make up the Group of Seven (G7). The group meets yearly to discuss issues like the international economy and security.

Last week, Trump announced the U.S. would put tariffs on steel and aluminum⁴ imports from Canada, Mexico, and the European Union. Trump called the tariffs part of “fair and reciprocal trade.” But Morneau says he expects the G7 will continue to try to pressure the U.S. to reconsider.

Trump has recently angered other G7 leaders over other issues, too. Last month he withdrew the U.S. from a deal to monitor Iran’s nuclear activities. And his efforts to improve ties between the U.S. and North Korea risk pushing Japan aside.

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire spoke⁵ to reporters on Friday before meeting with other G7 finance officials. “What this G7 is going to show is that the United States are alone against everyone and especially alone against their allies,” he said.

In addition to the economy, business investors⁶ want G7 leaders to talk about strengthening national plans to cut greenhouse gases and end the use of coal.

However, Trump has resisted these efforts before. He does not believe that severe weather changes are the result of human activities, and he wants to support and grow the U.S. fossil fuel industry.

Test of relevance⁷

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is hosting this week’s G7 leaders summit in the Quebec town of La Malbaie. He played down talk of division at the meeting. Instead, he said, the summit was a chance for “like-minded nations to come together and talk about shared challenges.

But one expert says the divisions on trade will make focusing on other issues hard. Heather Conley is a former U.S. State Department official, now with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, DC. “They’re either going to struggle through this and remain relevant to the management of the international system as it continues to evolve – or they’re not,” she said.

Another observer warned of a serious break. Roland Paris is a professor of international affairs at the University of Ottawa, as well as Trudeau’s first foreign policy adviser⁸. He said leaders could make light of their differences. Or, he added, “There is the real possibility of a more open rupture⁹.”?

But Trump economic adviser Larry Kudlow suggested the stakes were much lower. He said the tensions over trade were more like a family quarrel, and that leaders could overcome their differences.

The meeting will be held June 8 and 9 in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada.

I'm Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

absurd – adj. unreasonable¹⁰; completely foolish

tariff¹ - n. a tax on goods coming into or leaving a country?

summit - n. a meeting or series of meetings between the leaders of two or more governments?

reciprocal – adj. involving or related to both sides

relevant – adj. relating to a subject

greenhouse gases - n. gases that contribute to the warming of the Earth's atmosphere

fossil fuel - n. a fuel (such as coal, oil, or natural gas) that is formed in the earth from dead plants or animals

management - n. the act or process of controlling and dealing¹¹ with something?

evolve - v. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state ?

rupture - n. a break in good relations between people or countries

stakes - n. something (such as money) that you could win or lose in a game, contest, etc.

family quarrel – n. a disagreement between people who are often on good terms

1 tariff   

n.关税，税率；(旅馆、饭店等)价目表，收费表

参考例句：

• There is a very high tariff on jewelry.宝石类的关税率很高。
• The government is going to lower the tariff on importing cars.政府打算降低进口汽车的关税。

2 tariffs   

关税制度； 关税( tariff的名词复数 )； 关税表； （旅馆或饭店等的）收费表； 量刑标准

参考例句：

• British industry was sheltered from foreign competition by protective tariffs. 保护性关税使英国工业免受国际竞争影响。
• The new tariffs have put a stranglehold on trade. 新的关税制对开展贸易极为不利。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 aluminum   

n.(aluminium)铝

参考例句：

• The aluminum sheets cannot be too much thicker than 0.04 inches.铝板厚度不能超过0.04英寸。
• During the launch phase,it would ride in a protective aluminum shell.在发射阶段，它盛在一只保护的铝壳里。

5 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

6 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

7 relevance   

n.中肯，适当，关联，相关性

参考例句：

• Politicians' private lives have no relevance to their public roles.政治家的私生活与他们的公众角色不相关。
• Her ideas have lost all relevance to the modern world.她的想法与现代社会完全脱节。

8 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

9 rupture   

n.破裂；(关系的)决裂；v.(使)破裂

参考例句：

• I can rupture a rule for a friend.我可以为朋友破一次例。
• The rupture of a blood vessel usually cause the mark of a bruise.血管的突然破裂往往会造成外伤的痕迹。

10 unreasonable   

adj.不讲道理的，不合情理的，过度的

参考例句：

• I know that they made the most unreasonable demands on you.我知道他们对你提出了最不合理的要求。
• They spend an unreasonable amount of money on clothes.他们花在衣服上的钱太多了。

11 dealing   

n.经商方法，待人态度

参考例句：

• This store has an excellent reputation for fair dealing.该商店因买卖公道而享有极高的声誉。
• His fair dealing earned our confidence.他的诚实的行为获得我们的信任。