G7 summit kicks off in Canada amid trade disputes between US, allies

The trade war could heat up further if Trump next targets Canada's auto industry, which exports about 80 percent of the vehicles it manufactures to the United States, or Canada's dairy industry, based on the president's recent tweet that "Canada has treated our Agricultural business and Farmers very poorly for a very long period of time."

All of these actions further erode any hope that the North American Free Trade Agreement, currently under renegotiation by the United States, Canada and Mexico, will survive, according to Beatty.

"President Trump has made it clear that he is less interested in having an agreement when the United States wins than in having one where everyone loses," he said.

"It is a great irony that he casts himself as a businessman. In business, whether you are a customer or a supplier, you want to ensure that both have a fair deal that is mutually beneficial and you never want a situation where someone feels victimized."

"Yet this seems to be President Trump's strategy. He sees trade as a zero-sum game in which the United States can advance only if others lose," he said.

Beatty said he has never before witnessed such rancor directed from a US government to its Canadian counterpart since coming to Ottawa in 1972 when he was elected to the House of Commons as a Member of Parliament for the then-Progressive Conservative Party at the age of 22.

"I have never seen an instance like this where doing trade with each other is a bad thing - particularly when Canada is a close trading partner with the US, and has the closest relationship with the US militarily, diplomatically, culturally and economically than with any other country in the world," he said.

The White House said that Trump will miss the G7 meeting on climate change as he will leave the two-day meeting earlier than originally planned.

Trump on Friday fired off tough tweets directed at Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, French President Macron and the EU on trade issues, saying he is looking forward to "straightening out unfair Trade Deals" with the G7 countries.

At the end of the summit, the leaders hope to sign a joint statement detailing the policy positions and initiatives they agree on.

France and Germany have warned that they will not sign the final agreement unless Washington makes some major policy concession.

The summit took place against a backdrop of Trump creating the highest level of tension between the United States and its allies in decades, from trade to the Iran deal to NAFTA, according to an article published on the latest issue of the New Yorker.

On Thursday morning, Trump tweeted that he was "getting ready to go to the G-7 in Canada to fight for our country on Trade." But other G7 leaders were preparing for an America more alone than ever before, and now Trump faces the very real risk of allies teaming up against him, the article said.

"The American president may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be," Macron tweeted later on Thursday.

"Under Trump, 'America first' really is turning out to be America Alone," the New Yorker's article said. Before departing to Canada for this year's G7 summit, Trump told media that Russia should be invited back into the G7 meeting. His claim was unanimously opposed by the European members of the G7, the French president's office said Friday.