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Donald Trump says he wants Australia to join G7
By Jill Colvin
Washington: President Donald Trump says he wants to invite Australia to join the Group of 7 nations' meeting in the US later this year.
Trump singled out Australia, Russia, South Korea and India as possible additions, as he announced he will postpone the event until at least September and seek to expand the "outdated" group membership, which he says no longer properly represents what's taking place in the world.
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters while in air en route to Andrews Air Force Base.Credit: AP
The G7's members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The leaders of the world's major economies were slated to meet in June in the US at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland this year, but the coronavirus outbreak has hobbled those plans.
Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he returned from Florida that he had not yet set a new date, but he said the gathering could take place in September around the time of the annual meeting of the United Nations. He also said it might wait until after the November election.
"I'm postponing it because I don't feel that as a G7 it properly represents what's going on in the world," Trump said.
The decision is a dramatic pivot for Trump, who had sought to host the group of major industrialised countries in Washington as a demonstration that the United States was returning to normal after the coronavirus epidemic, which has killed more than 103,000 Americans to date.
China, the world's No. 2 economy, wasn't among Trump's proposed attendees as tensions between Washington and Beijing run high over the coronavirus and Hong Kong.
Instead, Trump would bring in Australia, which has joined with the US in criticising China about the spread of coronavirus around the world, and has faced economic reprisals as a result.
Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, said that Trump wanted to bring in some of the country's traditional allies and those impacted by the coronavirus to discuss the future of China.
The move to invite Russia will be controversial. Russia was suspended from what was then the Group of Eight major economies in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea. Trump has mused before about bringing Moscow back into the fold.
"Maybe I'll do it after the election," Trump said. "I think a good time would be before the election." The US presidential election is November 3.
"So it might be a G10, G11, and it could be after the election is over," Trump said.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel indicated this weekend she was hesitant to travel to the US in June for a physical G7 meeting, one that Trump saw as a sign of normalisation after the coronavirus pandemic shut down major economies.
"She's unable to confirm her personal participation," a German government spokesperson said of Merkel in an emailed statement on Saturday.
Trump spoke to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and French President Emmanuel Macron in recent days about progress on convening the G7 in person. It's unclear if either committed to a June gathering or encouraged a postponement.
Trump said the meeting could be held the week before or the week after the UN General Assembly, which is scheduled to open - potentially virtually, not in person - on September 15 and run through September 30.
AP, Bloomberg, Reuters