BRUSSELS — European and Asian leaders pledged their support for free trade at a meeting Friday that underscored global trade tensions with U.S. President Donald Trump. Together, the group accounts for some two-thirds of the world’s economic output, 55 per cent of global trade and 60 per cent of the world’s population. He said the move was to protect U.S. national security interests, but the Europeans claim it is simply protectionism and breaks global trade rules. On the sidelines of the meeting, the EU signed a pact with Vietnam that aims to tackle illegal logging. In another conclusion that ran counter to U.S. policy, European and Asian leaders praised the Iran nuclear deal — another multilateral initiative rejected by Trump.

Source: National Post October 19, 2018 09:44 UTC