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US interests will dominate Trump and Johnson's trade talks at the G7, campaigners warn

CAMPAIGNERS have warned that the interests of the US will dominate any trade deal discussions between Donald Trump and Boris Johnson at the G7 summit this weekend.

The summit in Biarritz, in the south of France, will be the first time Mr Johnson will meet world leaders of Canada, Italy, Japan and the US since becoming Prime Minister.

Mr Johnson has made clear that he wants to strengthen his relationship with US President Trump at the summit.

He met German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron earlier this week in a bid to reopen Brexit negotiations.

The G7 countries, including the UK, hold 58 per cent of the world’s net wealth.

A mass mobilisation and a counter-conference will take place in nearby Irun, in the Basque Autonomous Community in northern Spain, which French yellow vest protesters are expected to join.

Global Justice Now warns that the interests of the “extreme and unpredictable” Mr Trump could shape the priorities of post-Brexit Britain.

The group’s director Nick Dearden said a trade deal with the US would “undermine our public services, food standards and ability to control big corporations.”

It would also incorporate an “ever more divisive and damaging foreign policy,” he said.

Global Justice Now has also accused world leaders at the G7 summit of hypocrisy for having contributed to the world’s problems by putting big business first at the same time as they’ve exacerbated such issues.

Mr Dearden said: “When world leaders claim they’re coming together to create a more equal, peaceful and sustainable world, it’s important to judge them on their actions rather than their rhetoric.”

Speaking ahead of the G7 meeting Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn condemned its governments as “key drivers of global inequality” and slammed the “ugly spectacle” of Mr Johnson pursuing a “Trump First policy.”

He said Britain should use its position in bodies such as the G7 and international financial institutions to promote policies that tackle climate change and reduce inequality.

The Labour leader has also warned that Mr Johnson’s government is “failing a whole generation of children” in Britain who are falling victim to rising homelessness and poverty.

At a visit to a children’s lunch club in Wales today Mr Corbyn said Labour would stop the roll-out of universal credit, provide free school meals for all primary school children, build a million geniunely affordable homes and “the biggest council housing programme in a generation,” and introduce 30 hours of weekly free childcare for two to four-year-olds.

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