President Donald Trump departed the United States after the UFC fight on the White House South Lawn on Sunday and headed to France for the annual G7 summit, where frustrated European allies await him.
Trump will spend two days at the G7 meeting, where both the war in Iran and the Russia-Ukraine conflict are likely to be a huge point of discussion.
After launching an attack against Iran on Feb. 28, Trump has complained that European allies haven’t done enough to help the United States amid the war’s impact on the global economy, with increases in fossil fuel and oil and gas prices.
The war had caught U.S. allies off guard, and some were unwilling to listen to Trump’s repeated requests for help, which created stark divisions between the American president and some G7 leaders.
Mocking British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, Trump said earlier this year: “This is not Winston Churchill that we’re dealing with.”
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting the summit, described Trump’s military attack on Iran as “outside the framework of international law.”
Trump is expected to hold bilateral meetings with leaders from Egypt, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, according to a senior administration official.
Trump said Sunday the United States and Iran reached a deal to end the war on the condition that Iran never develops a nuclear weapon.
A big factor in the two-day summit will be Trump’s mood. At a G7 meeting in 2018, during his first term, he refused to sign the joint statement and would later question if the G7 was even worth the time, according to a CNN report. Macron, wanting to be on Trump’s good side, postponed the summit a day so that the president wouldn’t have to miss the UFC fight.
European leaders have not been happy with Trump’s support of Putin in the war over Zelenskyy. In addition to that, Trump began his second term by attempting to make Canada, a G7 member, America’s 51st state. He alarmed Europe with his threat to take over Greenland, a territory of Denmark.
“It won’t be a warm welcome for him,” said a foreign official, speaking to FWRD AXIS News on condition of anonymity.
At Macron’s invitation, when the summit ends, Trump will meet the French president at the Palace of Versailles for a private dinner.
The other six countries that make up the G7 coalition include France, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom. During a background call previewing the trip, a senior White House administration official said Trump’s goals include addressing “economic growth and development, supply chain resilience, illegal immigration, and artificial intelligence.”
