WASHINGTON: Senior US administration officials announced on Saturday that US President Donald Trump will meet with Middle Eastern leaders and participate in a working session with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during the G7 summit next week.
There will be no bilateral meeting with Zelensky, according to the authorities, but Trump will meet separately with the leaders of Egypt, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, France, and India when he travels to Evian, France, for the G7 conference early on Monday.
Netanyahu of Israel will not attend Trump’s bilateral G7 meetings with Middle Eastern leaders, according to a senior US government official.
On Tuesday, Trump will join Zelensky and G7 leaders for a working session. The summit takes place at a time when Ukraine is looking to its friends for further military funding and Russian advances in the country have paused.
Russian gains have “more or less stopped,” according to a senior US source who briefed reporters about Trump’s visit on condition of anonymity. “We want the war to end as quickly as possible,” the official stated.
Zelensky and Trump’s relationship has fluctuated. The authorities stated that while a bilateral meeting with Zelensky was not scheduled, the two leaders might meet outside of the summit.
Since returning to the White House in early 2025, he has argued with several European leaders on trade, tariffs, Ukraine, and NATO. He will address these leaders.
According to one of the individuals, Trump intended to discuss topics of mutual interest with summit leaders, such as supply chain resilience, illegal immigration, economic growth and development, and artificial intelligence. Additionally, he intended to concentrate on strengthening the supply chain’s resilience for vital minerals required for cutting-edge technology.
According to the authorities, Trump was scheduled to have dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday at the Palace of Versailles before heading back to Washington.
On the receiving end
Prior to the summit, which will pit the United States against France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, Liana Fix, an associate fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP that “all of these countries’ leaders have been on the receiving end of Trump’s trade pressure or diplomatic intimidation, with the exception of Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, for whom he has expressed particular fondness.”
Neither the court’s decision to overturn Trump’s universal tariffs nor his mounting unpopularity, which could cost him control of Congress, are likely to soften his position toward allies. She stated that the Greenland incident, trade disputes, and the Iran War had taught European politicians “to hope for the best but to expect the worst.”
