US President Donald Trump said on Saturday that he intends to delay this year’s G7 summit, and invite other nations to participate in the talks. Criticizing the meeting’s current format, the President lamented that the group did not truly represent “what’s going on in the world”, and was a “very outdated group of countries”.
G7 members include Canada, Germany, Italy, France, the UK, the US, and Japan. The European Union (EU) is also a member, but cannot host or chair the talks. The US was scheduled to host the summit this year in June. However, Trump said that he would postpone it until September, and include India, Australia, Russia, and South Korea to the list of invitees.
It is unclear if the US is seeking to permanently expand the G7. Previously, Trump has laid emphasis on Russia being a part of the talks, given its international strategic importance. However, given Russia’s exclusion from Western-led gatherings after its annexation of Crimea in 2014, such a proposition could be controversial.
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The decision to delay is quite a turn from Trump’s previous approach, who had sought to host an in-person meeting in Washington towards the end of June. Last week, the White House stated that he believed there would be “no greater example of reopening” than hosting the talks.
However, world leaders were not convinced about convening an in-person summit in the midst of a pandemic. German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s spokesperson said that she “cannot confirm” that she would attend such a meeting. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau also said that he could not commit to attending the proposed talks due to transmission concerns and Canada’s quarantine rules. According to the White House, both, France and the UK “agreed on the importance of convening the G7 in person in the near future”, but did not say whether the leaders had confirmed their attendance.
White House spokesperson Alyssa Farah said that Trump wants the countries to discuss China at the summit. His administration has sought to blame China entirely for the spread of the novel coronavirus, and has repeatedly attacked the Chinese government and “China-centric” WHO for mishandling the outbreak.
On Friday, Trump announced that the US would be “terminating” its ties with the premier health institution, and “redirecting those funds to other worldwide and deserving urgent global public health needs.” He also said that his administration would “begin the process of eliminating policy exceptions” for Hong Kong to sanction China for its decision to crack down on the territory.
Image Source: Politico