Trudeau kept ‘back pocket’ G7 summit statement to guard against Trump

OTTAWA – The top Canadian organizer at last year’s stormy G7 summit says Prime Minister Justin Trudeau kept a “back pocket” closing statement ready in case U.S. President Donald Trump blocked the usual united communique.

Sen. Peter Boehm was the senior public servant who organized the Canadian-hosted G7 leaders’ meeting at Charlevoix, Que.

He describes the unprecedented efforts to manage Trump’s potential disruption at the meeting in an article for a French foreign policy journal.

Boehm says Trudeau agreed to what amounted to a Plan B, a “chair’s summary” that the prime minister could issue if deep differences with the Americans blocked consensus.

Boehm retired from the public service three months after the summit, which ended with Trump unleashing a tirade of Twitter insults at Trudeau and his withdrawal of support for the summit’s final communique.

Last September, Trudeau appointed Boehm to the Senate as an independent after a long career as a diplomat that included ambassadorships and deputy minister level offices in Ottawa.