Updates to our Terms of Use

We are updating our Terms of Use. Please carefully review the updated Terms before proceeding to our website.

Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

G7 Meeting Postponed Due to Coronavirus

President Trump said Saturday he will postpone until the fall a meeting of Group of 7 nations he’d planned to hold this month despite the coronavirus pandemic. And he said he plans to invite Russia, Australia, South Korea and India as he again advocated for the group's expansion.

ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) — President Trump said Saturday he will postpone until the fall a meeting of Group of 7 nations he’d planned to hold this month despite the coronavirus pandemic. And he said he plans to invite Russia, Australia, South Korea and India as he again advocated for the group's expansion.

Trump told reporters on Air Force One as he returned to Washington from Florida that he feels the makeup of the group is "very outdated" and does not properly represent "what's going on in the world."

He said he had not yet set a new date for the meeting, but thought the gathering could take place in September, around the time of the annual meeting of the United Nations in New York, or perhaps after the U.S. election in November.

Alyssa Farah, White House director of strategic communications, said that Trump wanted to bring in some of the country's traditional allies and those affected by the coronavirus to discuss the future of China.

The surprise announcement came after German Chancellor Angela Merkel's office said Saturday that she would not attend the meeting unless the course of the coronavirus spread had changed by then.

The leaders of the world's major economies were slated to meet in June at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, but the coronavirus outbreak hobbled those plans. Trump announced in March he was canceling the summit because of the pandemic and that the leaders would confer by video conference instead. But he switched course, saying a week ago that he was again planning to host an in-person meeting.

"Now that our Country is 'Transitioning back to Greatness', I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David," Trump tweeted. "The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all - normalization!"

The G7 members are Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The group's presidency rotates annually among member countries.

Trump has repeatedly advocated for expanding the group to include Russia, prompting opposition from some members, including Canada's Justin Trudeau, who told reporters he had privately stated his objection to Russian readmittance.

"Russia has yet to change the behavior that led to its expulsion in 2014, and therefore should not be allowed back into the G7," he said at a news conference.

The House passed a bipartisan resolution in December 2019 that supports Russia's previous expulsion from the annual gathering.

Russia had been invited to the gathering of the world's most advanced economies since 1997, but was suspended in 2014 after its invasion of Ukraine and annexation of Crimea.


By JILL COLVIN and KEVIN FREKING

Categories / Economy, International, Politics

Subscribe to Closing Arguments

Sign up for new weekly newsletter Closing Arguments to get the latest about ongoing trials, major litigation and hot cases and rulings in courthouses around the U.S. and the world.

Loading...