LA MALBAIE: US President Donald Trump's attempt to overthrow or renegotiate a series of international agreements constitutes a threat to the post Cold War order, EU president Donald Tusk warned Friday.
"It is evident that the American president and the rest of the group continue to disagree on trade, climate change and the Iran nuclear deal," Tusk told reporters ahead of the G7 summit in the Canadian town of La Malbaie, north of Quebec.
"What worries me most, however, is the fact that the rules-based international order is being challenged, quite surprisingly not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor, the US."
Earlier, before setting off for Quebec, Trump had exacerbated the already yawning gulf between his position and that of Washington's G7 allies by calling for Russia to be re-admitted to the body, despite its occupation of Crimea.
European officials at the summit were shocked by the idea, or dismissive, and Tusk, while admitting that it was hard to be surprised by Trump's pronouncements any more, said: "Let's leave the G7 as it is."
"Naturally we cannot force the US to change their mind," said Tusk, who is a former prime minister of Poland and is now president of the European Council.
"At the same time we will not stop trying to convince our American friends and President Trump that undermining this order makes no sense at all, because it would only play into the hands of those who seek a new post-West order where liberal democracy and fundamental freedoms would cease to exist."