Aug. 26 (UPI) — President Donald Trump will conclude his busy weekend at the G7 summit in France on Monday with a joint news conference with French President Emmanuel Macron before returning to the United States.
Trump and Macron will speak to reporters at 9:30 a.m. EDT.
Earlier Monday, Trump held talks with German Chancellor Angela Merkel and the leader of Egypt. One topic of discussion was the ongoing trade conflict with China. Merkel said it’s in “everyone’s interest” for China and the United States to reach a deal.
Trump later clarified that China had asked to resume trade talks, and has lost an estimated 3 million jobs because of U.S. tariffs.
During a news conference with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Trump was asked about Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who showed up to the G7 Summit at Macron’s request.
“No, I don’t want to comment on that. But he was here, and we’ll see what happens with Iran,” Trump said.
He said Macron asked about inviting Zarif, to which he said, “If you want to do that, that’s okay.
“I don’t consider that disrespectful at all, especially when he asked me for approval.”
Trump said el-Sisi will be very important to reaching a Middle East peace deal. The failure of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to form a working government has forced another election next month that Trump called a “complicating factor.”
The full scope of the peace plan created by White House adviser Jared Kushner won’t be unveiled until after the Sept. 17 election.
“I think the Palestinians would like to make a deal,” Trump said Monday. “As you know, I cut off most funding to the Palestinians — a lot of funding. And I think they’d like to take it back.”
Trump floated the idea of having next year’s G7 summit in South Florida, near a major airport and his resort, the Trump National Doral.
“They love the location of the hotel,” he said. “We haven’t found anything that’s even close to competing with it. Really, you can be there in a matter of minutes after you land.”
