President Trump Raises Eyebrows When He Suggests Russia Should Be Allowed Back In G-7 Summit
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – President Donald Trump is in Canada for the G-7 summit, where he raised some eyebrows after suggesting Russia should be allowed to join the group.
The G-7 is an elite group of industrialized nations – the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain, France, Italy and Germany. Russia was invited to join in 1998, making it the G-8, but was kicked out in 2014 as punishment for annexing Crimea.
Now, there's talk among U.S. allies that we could be out next, CBS2's Alice Gainer reported.
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted a photo of the world leaders smiling and waving, with the caption, "Working lunch on issues related to the international economy, innovation and the future of the labour market."
The biggest issue is whether the seven nations can conclude the meeting with a joint statement of priorities. Earlier this week, Macron threatened to drop the U.S. from the group's final agreement altogether.
France's finance minister has called the meeting 'G-6 plus one.' in reference to President Donald Trump's isolation from other allies.
Trump's "America First" policy decision have angered U.S. allies. Tariffs on imported steel and aluminum from the European Union, Canada and Mexico have those nations threatening new tariffs of their own on U.S. products.
The president added to the drama when he said, "Russia should be in this meeting. Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?"
The Kremlin responded saying, "Russia is focused on other formats apart from the G-7."
Trump will leave the G-7 summit early to head to Singapore for Tuesday's meeting with North Korea's dictator Kim Jong Un.
