News / Politics

UK's May welcomes G7 agreement to keep Russia sanctions

Sunday, 10 June 2018 10:15 AM [ Last Update: Monday, 11 June 2018 9:55 AM ]

British Prime Minister Theresa May (File photo)

British Prime Minister Theresa May has voiced her support for a G7 statement which highlighted the need to keep sanctions on Russia.

May made the remarks on Saturday on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Quebec, Canada, a day after US President Donald Trump had suggested that Moscow be allowed back in the group.

“This used to be the G8 because Russia was in it, and now Russia’s not in it,” Trump said outside the White House.

“Why are we having a meeting without Russia? I would recommend, and it is up to them, but Russia should be at the meeting," Trump noted. "They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table.”

The US and its European allies have imposed sanctions against Russia since 2014, when the Crimean Peninsula voted in a referendum to separate from Ukraine and reintegrate into Russia.

Elsewhere in her remarks, May underscored the need to stop having tit-for-tat actions in a trade war between the EU and the US which began after Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports from key allies.

The premier, however, said that Britain had registered its "deep disappointment at the unjustified decision by the US to apply tariffs to EU steel and aluminum imports" at the meeting.

Trump claimed America had been forced to levy the metal tariffs as it has been exploited as the world's "piggy bank" under existing arrangements, but his counterparts were equally determined to protect "rules-based" international trade.

The US president had also slammed America's Western trading partners, saying "all of these countries have been taking advantage of the United States on trade."

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