US President Donald Trump announced on Saturday May 30 that he would postpone the June G7 summit in the United States for an unspecified date and invite other countries to join the meeting, including Russia.

"I don't feel that the G7 correctly represents what is going on in the world. It is a group of countries very outdated," Donald Trump told reporters in the Air Force One plane, adding that he would like to invite Russia, South Korea, Australia and India to join an enlarged summit in the fall.

This could happen in September, before or after the General Assembly of the United Nations, added the American president, specifying that he could also "perhaps do it after the presidential election" in November where he will seek a second mandate.

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Describing this meeting as "G-10 or G-11", Donald Trump said he had "summarily" raised the subject with the leaders of the four countries he wants to join this summit.

G7 leaders, chaired this year by the United States, were scheduled to meet by videoconference in late June due to the coronavirus epidemic. But Donald Trump however indicated last week that he could finally organize this big gathering, "mainly in the White House" but also potentially partly in the presidential residence of Camp David, on the outskirts of Washington.

Angela Merkel's refusal to travel to the United States

The initial reactions of G7 leaders to this proposal had been cautious. German Chancellor Angela Merkel was the first leader of the group to formally decline this invitation to attend a summit in the United States in June.

"To date, given the general situation of the pandemic, she cannot accept participation in person, a trip to Washington," a spokesman for the German government told AFP on Saturday.

In the evening, the Elysee Palace said that French President Emmanuel Macron was "available" to go to a G7 summit but in this case wanted "the presence of all".

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stressed last week the importance of studying "the recommendations of the experts".

Donald Trump wants to make a G7 summit with flesh-and-blood leaders the symbol of normalization he calls for, as opposed to blocking activity that could cost him dearly on the electoral front .

With AFP

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