WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. President Donald Trump landed in Warsaw, Poland on Wednesday evening for the first stop on a Europe tour that will include meetings with a host of world leaders.
Trump’s first stop in Warsaw, Poland will include a meeting with President of Poland Andrzej Duda and another with Croatian President Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović. The U.S. President will attend the Three Seas Conference where he will speak to 12 Central European, Baltic and Western Balkan leaders. His comments will center around infrastructure development and energy security according to senior Trump Administration officials that briefed reporters ahead of the trip.
Last month the U.S. began its first shipments of LNG to Poland. Trump is expected to highlight this as part of his comments in Poland.
Trump will participate in several meetings Thursday after which he will offer remarks to the Polish people at Krasiński Square. U.S. National Security Advisor Gen. H.R. McMaster noted in a press briefing last week that this was the “epicenter of the 1944 Warsaw uprising against the brutal Nazi occupation.”
McMaster laid out seven objectives for Trump’s Europe Trip. First were three primary objectives, “To promote American prosperity, to protect American interests, and to provide American leadership.” Second, “to reassert who we are.” Third, to “continue to forge a common understanding of threats.” Fourth, “to develop a common approach to Russia.” Fifth, “to expand economic opportunity for Americans.” Sixth, energy. Seventh, environment and climate.
Trump will travel from Poland to Hamburg, Germany to participate in the G20 Summit on July 7 and 8. There the U.S. President will meet with world leaders including G20 host Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, U.K. Prime Minister Theresa May, Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President of South Korea Moon Jae-in, President of China Xi Jinping, President of Russia Vladimir Putin, President of Mexico Enrique Pena Nieto, President of Indonesia Joko Widodo and Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. The meetings will range from pull-asides to bilateral meetings.
President Trump will take the opportunity to support G20 countries using “all the tools at their disposal — monetary, fiscal, and structural — to strengthen growth in their countries. Importantly, the G20 also needs to do more to address global imbalances, especially from overcapacity in industrial sectors,” according to Trump’s chief economic advisor Gary Cohn.
“America First does not mean America alone,” Cohn said of Trump’s position on trade. Cohn added at the June 29 briefing, “The goal of U.S. trade policy is to expand trade in a way that are free and fair.”
“On energy, the President remains committed to working with world leaders and private sectors on sound environmental policies and on innovative technologies,” Cohn said. He went on to say that Trump will address with the G20 leaders, the U.S. leaving the Paris Climate agreement, “He’ll make clear that he has decided to leave the agreement because it was a bad deal for the United States, but that he is open to re-engaging in the agreement or a new agreement if it makes sense for the American people.”
Famine and global crises will also be addressed at the G20. Cohn said previously, “We are focused on the crisis in South Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, and Somalia, and recently announced that the United States would provide more than $329 million in additional humanitarian assistance in this crisis — bringing the total U.S. humanitarian assistance here to nearly $1.2 billion in fiscal year 2017.”
Women’s economic empowerment is yet another topic at the G20. Cohn stated, “We are advocating for more equality and equal access to the workplace, financial services, and the labor market with quality employment for women and men all throughout the world.”
There has been speculation, but it is not completely clear what Trump will do between July 9 and 13. Newsweek has suggested Trump could visit Scotland and one of his golf courses, but the White House has denied this more than once.
Trump has accepted an invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to visit the country for Bastille Day on July 14. The White House stated that Trump, “looks forward to reaffirming America’s strong ties of friendship with France, to celebrating this important day with the French people, and to commemorating the 100th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I.”
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