Trump postpones the G7 meeting and seeks to expand membership

AIR FORCE ONE – Despite the coronavirus epidemic, President Donald Trump said Saturday that a 7-nation committee meeting scheduled for the White House next month will fall. He said he plans to invite Russia, Australia, South Korea and India as the group advocates for expansion.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One on his return to Washington from Florida, that the group’s current makeup is “outdated” and does not exactly represent “what is happening in the world.”

He said that a new date for the meeting has not yet been set, but the U.S. will meet in New York during the United Nations annual meeting in September, or in November.

Alyssa Farah, director of strategic communications, said Trump wants to discuss China’s future with some of Trump’s traditional allies and those affected by the corona virus.

The surprise announcement came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office said she was absent on Saturday. Attend the meeting The course of coronavirus transmission has not changed since then.

Leaders of some of the world’s major economies are heading to the U.S. in Camp David, where the president backed off in Maryland in June. Were scheduled to meet, but the Coronavirus outbreak prevented those plans. Trump announced in March that he would abolish the summit due to the epidemic and instead provide the leaders with a video conference. But then Trump reversed the trend, saying he planned to hold a one-person meeting a week ago.

“Now our country is back to glory. On the same or similar date, I am considering replacing the G-7 at the renowned Camp David, Washington, DC,” Trump tweeted. “Other members start their COMEBACK. This is a great sign for everyone – normalization!”

G7 members include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The group’s presidency rotates annually among member states.

Trump has repeatedly advocated expanding the group to include Russia, provoking opposition from some members, including Canada’s Justin Trudeau, who told reporters that he personally broadcast his objection to Russian reading.

“Russia has not yet changed the behavior that led to its expulsion in 2014, so it should not be allowed into the G7 again,” he told a news conference.

In December 2019, the council passed a bipartisan resolution supporting Russia’s expulsion from the previous meeting.

Russia has been invited to attend a meeting of the world’s most advanced economies since 1997, but was suspended in 2014 following the invasion of Ukraine and the annexation of Crimea.