EXCLUSIVE The woke masses fled Trump's America in a blind panic. Now their liberal safe haven has doomed them all
Liberals seeking refuge from Donald Trump 's America have been dealt a crushing blow as their favorite sanctuary issued a brutal crackdown.
Almost 500 fleeing US citizens have tried to claim asylum in Canada since the billionaire's re-election, Daily Mail can exclusively reveal.
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Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
G7 leaders meet in Canada hoping to avoid Trump clash
BANFF, Alberta, June 15 (Reuters) - Group of Seven leaders gather in the Canadian Rockies starting on Sunday amid growing splits with the United States over foreign policy and trade, with host Canada striving to avoid clashes with President Donald Trump. While Prime Minister Mark Carney says his priorities are strengthening peace and security, building critical mineral supply chains and creating jobs, issues such as U.S. tariffs and the conflicts in the Middle East and Ukraine are expected to feature heavily. U.S. ally Israel launched a barrage of strikes across Iran on Thursday, a blow to Trump's diplomatic efforts to prevent such an attack. The summit will take place in the mountain resort of Kananaskis, some 90 km (56 miles) west of Calgary. The last time Canada played host, in 2018, Trump left the summit before denouncing then Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "very dishonest and weak" and instructing the U.S. delegation to withdraw its approval of the final communique. "This will be a successful meeting if Donald Trump doesn't have an eruption that disrupts the entire gathering. Anything above and beyond that is gravy," said University of Ottawa international affairs professor Roland Paris, who was foreign policy adviser to Trudeau. Trump has often mused about annexing Canada and arrives at a time when Carney is threatening reprisals if Washington does not lift tariffs on steel and aluminum. "The best-case scenario ... is that there's no real blow-ups coming out of the back end," said Josh Lipsky, the chair of international economics at the Atlantic Council think tank and a former White House and State Department official. Carney's office declined to comment on how the Israeli strikes would affect the summit. Diplomats said Canada has ditched the idea of a traditional comprehensive joint communique and would issue chair summaries instead, in hopes of containing a disaster and maintaining engagement with the U.S. A senior Canadian official told reporters Ottawa wanted to focus on actions the seven members - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States - could take together. Canadian Senator Peter Boehm, a veteran former diplomat who acted as Trudeau's personal representative to the 2018 summit, said he had been told the summit would last longer than usual to give time for bilateral meetings with the U.S. president. Expected guests for parts of the Sunday to Tuesday event include leaders from Ukraine, Mexico, India, Australia, South Africa, South Korea and Brazil, who all have reasons to want to talk to Trump. "Many will want to talk to President Trump about their own particular interests and concerns," Boehm said by phone. A senior U.S. official said on Friday working discussions would cover trade and the global economy, critical minerals, migrant and drug smuggling, wildfires, international security, artificial intelligence and energy security. "The president is eager to pursue his goals in all of these areas including making America's trade relationships fair and reciprocal," the official said. The visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to the Oval Office in February descended into acrimony and has served as a warning for other world leaders about the delicate dance they face in negotiating with Trump. But diplomats say the frustration of dealing with the Trump administration has made some keener to assert themselves. Canada has long been one of Ukraine's most vocal supporters. Trump came to power promising to end the war with Russia within 24 hours but diplomatic efforts to end the conflict have stalled. One Ukrainian official involved in preparations for the summit said hope had faded for a strong statement in support of Ukraine. Instead, success for Kyiv would merely constitute an amicable meeting between Trump and Zelenskiy. A European official said the G7 summit and the NATO summit in The Hague later in June provided an opportunity to underscore to Trump the need to press ahead with a sanctions bill put together by U.S. senators alongside a new European package to pressure Russia into a ceasefire and broader talks. Trump's first international summit will offer some early clues on whether Trump is interested in working with allies to solve common problems, said Max Bergmann, a director at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. 'The big overarching question here is, basically, is the United States still committed to formats like the G7? That is going to be the big test,' Bergmann said. French President Emmanuel Macron has said he has a good, but frank relationship with Trump despite differences on subjects such as Ukraine or climate change. Macron said on Friday that a United Nations conference co-hosted between France and Saudi Arabia scheduled after the G7 to work towards a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians has been postponed.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
G7 has been Trump-proofed to avoid trouble – here's how
The Canadian organisers of the G7 summit are taking no chances with Donald Trump this week, ditching the usual joint communiqué, padding the event with extra guests and reducing the amount of time when the world leaders sit around the same table. It is the latest example of how global institutions are adapting to the return of an unpredictable and combative figure. A diplomat in Washington DC, who has seen the schedule, said it included fewer plenary sessions of the full group and more one-on-one meetings 'There's a lot more of that than at other summits,' he said, 'which would make sense if you are worried about one person causing trouble.' The last time Mr Trump attended a G7 summit in Canada he stormed off early, ripping up a joint communiqué and leaving a trail of withering tweets behind him. His blanket use of trade tariffs has already set nerves on edge, according to Matthew P Goodman, who was deputy to the US G7 Sherpa during the Obama administration, one of the figures doing the heavy lifting on negotiations. 'Those two issues hang over this upcoming summit, and are going to make it very challenging for the host, Mark Carney, to manage this,' he said. Canadian diplomats were buoyed by their new prime minister's performance at the White House recently, when he avoided the sort or tongue lashing delivered to some other world leaders. But organisers are leaving nothing to chance. World leaders are due to begin arriving on Sunday. They will fly into the international airport in Calgary from where they will helicopter to the picturesque setting of Kananaskis, deep in the Canadian Rockies. Organisers have padded the number of attendees by inviting leaders from India, Brazil, Ukraine, Australia and Saudi Arabia (although Crown Prince Mohamed Bin Salman reportedly will not be attending). Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president, is coming. He knows better than most how Mr Trump can undo the best laid plans after being ambushed last month in the Oval Office and accused of allowing a 'white genocide' to unfold. Mark Rutte, Nato secretary general, and António Guterres, the UN secretary general, are expected to attend. There will also be a session on fentanyl smuggling, a cause particularly close to Mr Trump's heart. The result is more breakaway bilateral meetings and fewer chances for Mr Trump to clog up the agenda. Mr Goodman said: 'Any host of these forums, if they're smart, will minimise the time around the table. You need a certain amount of that, but you want to allow for a lot of time on the margins for bilateral conversations and meetings' In 2018, Justin Trudeau, Canada's prime minister at the time, presided over a G7 summit where Mr Trump abruptly pulled the US out of a previously agreed communiqué, before blasting his host as 'dishonest and weak'. He flew out of Canada early, apparently upset at the way Mr Trudeau had talked about Canadian tariffs on US exports. It meant weeks of careful negotiations on easing trade tensions between the US and the European Union went up in smoke. This time Mr Carney is preparing to issue a chairman's statement, according to The Toronto Star, avoiding the need for all the parties to agree on a joint position on awkward issues such as Ukraine or Israel's strikes on Iran. 'Our hope is that Mr Trump will join us in getting tougher on Russia and push through new sanctions,' said a senior diplomat from a G7 nation. 'But he could equally say, no, let's give them another two weeks and then there is no chance for agreement.' That makes it almost impossible to make progress on a joint text ahead of the summit, he added. 'The problem is that no one knows what's on Trump's mind,' he said. 'Negotiating in the absence of that is not easy.' The G7 summit is not the only high-stakes diplomacy this month. Nato leaders will assemble in The Hague next week, where defence spending will be top of the agenda. Summit organisers there are preparing a one-page communiqué, The Telegraph revealed on Friday, designed to suit Mr Trump's attention span. It will be almost entirely focused on one of the president's pet issues and the historic decision to more than double spending on defence by leaders to meet new capability targets for deterring a Russian invasion. Mr Trump stormed out of his last Nato summit in the UK in 2019, abandoning plans for a press conference, after Mr Trudeau was caught on video apparently mocking the American president. He was talking to Boris Johnson, the British prime minister, and Emmanuel Macron, the French president, discussing how Mr Trump liked to use photo opportunities to talk to the press.
The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
‘Stay below the radar': corporate America goes quiet after Trump's return
From vast protests and all-caps social media posts to acrimonious legislative hearings and pugnacious White House statements, Washington has perhaps never been noisier. But since Donald Trump's return to office, one corner of civil society has been almost eerily quiet. Those leading corporate America rapidly turned down the volume after the president's re-election. Gone are the days of political and social interventions, highly publicized diversity initiatives and donations to important causes. For months, some of the most powerful firms in the world have nervously navigated a dangerous US political landscape, desperate to avoid the wrath of an administration as volatile as it is vocal. 'CEOs like two things. They like consistency and predictability,' said Bill George, former chairman and CEO of Medtronic and serial board director. 'They like to know where things are going. No one can figure out where this administration's really going, because everything is transactional.' 'Stay below the radar screen,' George has been advising senior executives across the US. 'Do not get in a fight with this president.' Industry leaders from David Solomon of Goldman Sachs to Dara Khosrowshahi of Uber extoled the benefits of 'Trump accounts' for babies this week. It was the latest example of knee-flexing that began on the patio of Mar-a-Lago in the aftermath of Trump's victory last November. The genuflections have been backed by big money, with millions of dollars thrown into the president's inaugural fund by companies and executives. That started to look like chump change before long. Amazon reportedly paid $40m for a documentary about Melania Trump. Apple announced plans to invest $500bn in the US. But those moves do not appear to have bought much favor. The White House accused Amazon of being 'hostile and political' following a report (upon which the company later poured cold water) that it would start disclosing the impact of Trump's tariffs on prices. And the president threatened Apple with vast tariffs. No CEO seemed closer to Trump than Elon Musk, the billionaire industrialist behind Tesla and SpaceX, who gave almost $300m to Republican campaigns last year, and worked in the administration for months. Their explosive fallout, days after Musk's exit, prompted the president to threaten the cancellation of federal contracts and tax subsidies for Musk's companies. The pair's rupture underlined why many executives are struggling to trust the president, according to Paul Argenti, professor of corporate communication at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth. 'The mercurial nature of this guy kind of just seeps in, and people start to realize they're dealing with something that's a bit more difficult.' His advice? 'Proceed with extreme caution.' 'Loyalty only goes one way with Trump,' said Dan Schwerin, co-founder of Evergreen Strategy Group, and former speechwriter for Hillary Clinton, who has previously worked with firms including Levi Strauss and Patagonia. 'This is like doing business with the mafia: you're not going to win, and you're not going to be safe.' The standard playbook is clear: 'You make a big splashy announcement: the details don't matter, you don't have to follow through, but you placate the White House,' said Schwerin. 'That maybe buys you a little time and a little goodwill. 'But history suggests that Trump will do whatever is best for Trump, and he will turn on you in an instant, if it's better for him. And that is true for his friends, so it will certainly be true for a company that he has no loyalty to.' Extreme caution has become the name of the game – anything to avoid your company getting drawn into the crosshairs of this administration. But companies can't just focus on the president: they have shareholders, customers and employees to answer to. 'You can't base everything on getting through the next four years,' said George. 'Yeah, it's going to be chaotic. Yes, it's going to be challenging. But you better hold firm to your purpose and your values.' He pointed to retailer Target, where he served on the board for 12 years. 'They were very, very big on differentiating themselves from Walmart, using diversity as the criteria – and particularly being, they called themselves, the most gay-friendly company in town. 'And then [Target CEO] Brian Cornell, six days after the inauguration, abandoned all that,' said George. The chain faced a backlash – and boycotts – for abruptly announcing the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives. Breaking his silence in an email to employees three months later, Cornell claimed: 'We are still the Target you know and believe in.' Contrast this with Costco, another retailer, which in January faced a shareholder proposal against DEI efforts from a conservative thinktank. The firm's board robustly defended its 'commitment to an enterprise rooted in respect and inclusion' before the proposal was put to its investors for a vote. 'They got a 98% vote to stay the course, to stay true to what they were,' said George. 'And their customer base is very conservative. This is not like they have some liberal customer base.' Argenti believes the period of strategic silence by many companies, and knee-flexing to the White House, might be coming to a close following Musk's messy exit. 'We're at an inflection point,' he said. 'There's going to period where people realize you're damned if you do and damned if you don't.' CEOs of companies counting the cost of Trump's policies are 'not going to suffer in silence', he said. 'You can't win. It's not like you can be secure in knowing if you follow this strategy, he'll leave you alone.' 'We are starting to see the pendulum swing back,' according to Schwerin, who claimed the administration's erratic execution of tariffs had 'opened some people's eyes' that its policies were bad for business. 'I think it's crucial that we start to see a little more pushback. Better to have a backbone than to just bend the knee.' On controversial issues at the heart of political discourse, however, George does not expect much of a shift from CEOs. 'It is radio silence, and I think you'll see that continuing. There's not much to be gained from speaking out today.' 'Stick to your lane,' he has been counseling executives. 'If you're a banker, you can talk about the economy. If you're an oil expert ... talk to the energy industry. But you can't speak ex-cathedra to everyone else.' 'Only a handful' of business figures are deemed able to stand up and make bold public statements on any issue, according to George, who points to Jamie Dimon, the veteran JPMorgan Chase boss, and Warren Buffett, the longtime head of Berkshire Hathaway. 'There are certain people who are really hard to take on. Jamie's one,' he said. 'If you were president of the United States, would you take on Warren Buffett?'
