Trump attends G7 summit in Canada amid trade tensions

Trump said on Sunday that he anticipates announcing new trade deals at the summit, suggesting to reporters ahead of his departure to Canada yesterday that it’s just a matter of sending letters laying out the framework of the economic agreements.

“Look, we have our trade deals. All we have to do is send a letter [saying] ‘this is what you’re going to have to pay,'” Trump said. “But I think we’ll have a few, few new trade deals.”

In addition to the Group of 7 nations and European Union, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney also extended invitations to this year’s gathering to several allied countries, including Ukraine, Mexico, South Africa, India and Australia.

Aside from the United Kingdom, Trump has yet to announce a trade deal with any of the countries attending the summit, some of whom have responded to his heightened tariffs with retaliatory penalties of their own.

Trump’s second-term approval rating remains stuck in negative territory, along with general attitudes toward his administration’s policies, according to a new NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey. 

But immigration and border security remains an exception, as the president tries to drive national attention back toward his strongest issue — though Americans are closely divided even on that area of relative strength.

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