Relations sour between the United States and its allies over trade. A picture released by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office summed up the mood of this weekend’s G7 summit in Canada. Donald Trump insisted that other countries had been “taking advantage” of the United States for years, justifying a raft of protectionist measures. There were similarly strong differences of opinion over Iran, Israel-Palestine and climate change. Despite initially signing up to a joint communiqué, President Trump withdrew the support of the United States after Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau repeated his warning that retaliatory tariffs would be necessary. Senator John McCain took to Twitter to express his frustration: “Americans stand with you, even if our president doesn’t.”

Meanwhile, Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un arrive in Singapore ahead of summit. Cutting short his summit with leaders of the world’s richest democracies, President Trump seemed more enthusiastic about his upcoming encounter with the leader of the world’s most oppressive regime. The agenda for the summit is unclear: the United States has previously called for the complete “denuclearisation” of the Korean Peninsula; recent objectives appear more modest. The meeting between the two leaders will be as unprecedented as it is bizarre. It comes less than nine months after Trump and Kim traded their infamous “rocket man” / “dotard” insults.

UK government submits ‘backstop’ plan to EU. There had been delays over the publication of the plan after David Davis threatened to resign when an earlier draft did not specify an end date for the arrangement. The published version makes reference to an “expected” end date of December 2021. Michel Barnier warned that the document “raises more questions than it answers,” insisting that the backstop measure agreed between the UK and EU in December can only apply to Northern Ireland, not the UK as a whole. He later tweeted to say that the EU was not rejecting the paper outright, but that further discussions were necessary.

Peter Robinson delivers lecture at Queen’s University. After being appointed an honorary professor at the Senator George J. Mitchell Institute for Global Peace, Security and Justice, the former First Minister reflected on how he thought power-sharing could be restored. He emphasised the need for a “two-way compromise,” adding that once a deal is secured an effective leader “must be out there positively selling the benefits of the deal. No matter how good the deal may be, it will not sell itself.” Many interpreted these remarks to be directed at current DUP leader Arlene Foster, sitting on the front row of the lecture theatre. In other remarks, Mr Robinson argued that “fixed generational border polls” would promote political stability.

Concerns grow over Civil Service accountability. In a parliamentary question, Lord Empey asked the Northern Ireland Office to whom the Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service is currently accountable. The NIO responded that, “The Head of the Northern Ireland Civil Service is primarily accountable to the First Minister and deputy First Minister,” adding that, “This line of accountability has not been altered or replaced as a consequence of the ongoing lack of an Executive.” Sam McBride of the News Letter described the situation as “Kafkaesque,” in reference to the absurdist fiction writer Fraza Kafka.

Also published on Medium.