Aug. 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will conclude his busy weekend at the G7 summit in France Monday with a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron before returning to the United States.
Trump and Macron will speak to reporters at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
The news conference follows a climate change and biodiversity meeting Trump did not attend.
“The president had scheduled meetings and bilaterals with Germany and India, so a senior member of the administration attended in his stead,” White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told reporters.
The heads of the other six nations that comprise the G7 — Britain, Canada, Japan, Germany, France and Italy — were present.
After the meeting, Trump told reporters he planned to attend.
“I’m going to. In fact, it’s going to be in a little while. I want clear air and clean water,” he said, perhaps unaware the meeting had already occurred.
At the meeting, G7 leaders approved a $20 million aid package to help Brazil and other South American countries address fires engulfing swaths of the Amazon rain forest.
Earlier Monday, Trump held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leader of Egypt. One topic of discussion was the ongoing trade conflict with China. Merkel said it’s in “everyone’s interest” for China and the United States to reach a deal.
Trump later clarified that China had asked to resume trade talks, and has lost an estimated 3 million jobs because of U.S. tariffs.
During a news conference with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Trump was asked about Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who showed up to the G7 Summit at Macron’s request.
“No, I don’t want to comment on that. But he was here, and we’ll see what happens with Iran,” Trump said.
He said Macron asked about inviting Zarif, to which he said, “If you want to do that, that’s okay.
“I don’t consider that disrespectful at all, especially when he asked me for approval.”
Trump said el-Sisi will be very important to reaching a Middle East peace deal. The failure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a working government has forced another election next month that Trump called a “complicating factor.”
The full scope of the peace plan created by White House adviser Jared Kushner won’t be unveiled until after the Sept. 17 election.
“I think the Palestinians would like to make a deal,” Trump said Monday. “As you know, I cut off most funding to the Palestinians — a lot of funding. And I think they’d like to take it back.”
Trump also continued to push for Russia to be added back to the G7 saying it would be “good for everybody.” Merkel has resisted the idea. Russia was booted out of the G7 after it annexed the Crimea in 2014. Trump has said that former President Barack Obama kicked Russia out of the G7 because Russian President Vladimir Putin was “outsmarting” him.
Trump floated the idea of having next year’s G7 summit in South Florida, near a major airport and his resort, the Trump National Doral.
“They love the location of the hotel,” he said. “We haven’t found anything that’s even close to competing with it. Really, you can be there in a matter of minutes after you land.”
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