Washington – US President Donald Trump will travel to next month’s G7 summit in France, a White House official told AFP Tuesday, despite tensions between Washington and its allies on a host of issues from Iran to tariffs.
Trump’s attendance had not previously been confirmed at the meeting of the Group of Seven leading economies in the French Alpine lakeside resort of Evian on June 15-17.
The White House said in January that France had changed the dates to accommodate Trump’s schedule. Trump is holding a cage fight at the White House on June 14, his 80th birthday.
The US president wants to discuss subjects including artificial intelligence, trade and crime-fighting at the leaders summit, the Axios news outlet reported.
But the summit takes place against a backdrop of frictions between the United States and other G7 members, particularly over the war Trump launched on Iran in February.
Trump has lashed out at US allies for failing to help open up the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway that Iran has effectively shut down, causing global oil prices to spike.
Western allies including the G7 have in return expressed concerns about the impact of the US-Israeli war on their economies, particularly at a time when they are dealing with tariffs imposed by Trump.
Trump’s attendance at a NATO summit in Turkey in early July has still not yet been confirmed.
The Group of Seven countries are Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Each country assumes the group’s rotating leadership, organizing summits and ministerial meetings each year.
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Source: AFP
