President Trump tried to lighten the mood at a G7 breakfast on gender equality on Saturday by trading friendly banter with his allies after keeping them waiting by showing up late then declaring the summit an ‘immense success’.
On Saturday morning, the president eventually took his seat next to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Angela Merkel who had been pictured gazing towards the door and his empty seat as they sat with fruit and croissants in front of them.
He spoke jollily with them and received adoring looks from his French President Emmanuel Macron before appearing at a press conference to discuss the ‘productive’ few days in Charlevoix near Quebec.
Trump said he had effectively communicated his plan to reduce trade tariffs but did not indicate what the reaction was from foreign leaders, saying only that his relationships with Merkel, Macron and Trudeau were all ‘a 10’.
President Trump arrives late to a gender equality breakfast in Charlevoix on Saturday at the G7 summit. The other leaders were already gathered with their food in front of him as he slipped in while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau gave some opening remarks. He took his seat next to IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Notably absent: Trump’s seat sat empty as the other leaders awaited his arrival at Saturday morning’s breakfast
Once he was in his seat, the president engaged Lagarde in conversation talk as others chatted around them
The president received a friendly welcome from Lagarde after his arrival. He has been somewhat isolated by other nations at the summit but insists his relationships with every foreign leader there is ‘a 10’
‘The US has been taken advantage of for decades and we can’t do that anymore. We had extremely productive discussions on fair and reciprocal – that means the same – trade.
‘We want and expect other nations to provide fair market access to American exports,’ he said.
He injected additional controversy by suggesting that the G-7 offer a seat at the table to Russia, which was ousted from the group after it annexed Crimea.
‘I have not spoken to Vladimir Putin for quite a while. It has been discussed. Some people like the idea of bringing Russia back in, this used to be the G8.
‘Something happened a while ago,’ he said, referring the annexation of Crimea which sealed Russia’s ousting from the G7.
On Trump’s other side was Christine Whitecross, a Canadian lieutenant general, and Winnie Byanyima, the executive difector of Oxfam
French President Emmanuel Macron looked affectionately towards Trump after his late arrival at the breakfast
Trump squeezed in to his seat, attempting to do so discreetly after arriving with a pool of US reporters and his own team of spokesmen and handlers
Asked later for his thoughts on the 2014 annexation, he said: ‘Crimea was let go during the Obama admin and Obama can say all he wants but he allowed Russia to take Crimea.
‘I may have had a much different attitude. Why did he do that? Why did he do that?
‘That being said, it’s been done a long time,’ he said.
‘I would rather see Russia in the G8 as opposed to the G7. The G8 is a more meaningful group than the G7,’ he added.
Asked if Trudeau was upset that Trump would be leaving the summit in Canada early on Saturday to fly to Singapore to meet with North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, Trump joked, ‘He’s happy.’
Macron said he and Trump held ‘open and direct’ discussions, adding that he thought there was a way to get a ‘win-win’ outcome on trade, though details remained unclear.
Both sides suggested some progress in NAFTA talks. White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said they were ‘close to a deal,’ but added that there was also discussion of shifting to a bilateral deal. A Canadian official said the leaders discussed accelerating the pace of the talks.
Later, the president spoke at a press conference where he heralded the summit an ‘immense success’ and reiterated his desired changes to trade tariffs
‘Unfair’: Trump expressed again his views that the US has been taken advantage of for years by disproportionate tariffs with Canada and other nations
Trump spent Friday participating in the rituals of the G-7, including the formal greeting by host Trudeau, a group photo in front of the sparkling St. Lawrence River and a working lunch of Arctic char and buckwheat salad.
Other members of the Group of Seven are Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Germany and Britain. The European Union also attends.
Macron said Thursday on Twitter, ‘The American President may not mind being isolated, but neither do we mind signing a 6 country agreement if need be.’
Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said the issue ‘hasn’t been raised around the G-7 table,’ though she said there have been ‘some direct conversations in bilateral meetings.’
She added ‘there are no grounds whatsoever for bringing Russia with its current behavior back into the G-7.’
In Paris, Macron’s office said such a move wouldn’t make sense and pointed out that the latest country to impose economic sanctions on Russia was the U.S. Italy’s new premier, Giuseppe Conte, tweeted that he agreed with Trump, saying: ‘Russia should go back into the G-8. In the interest of all.’
Russia seemed unconcerned. State news agencies quoted Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov as saying, ‘We are putting the emphasis on other formats.’
Over the course of his presidency, Trump has inflamed allies with his isolationist policies, including withdrawing the U.S. from the Paris climate accord and the international Iran-nuclear agreement.
“The rules-based international order is being challenged, not by the usual suspects but by its main architect and guarantor: the United States,” said European Council President Donald Tusk.
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