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46th G7 summit

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46th G7 summit
Host countryUnited States (canceled)
Date10–12 June 2020 (canceled)
Venue(s)Camp David (canceled)
Participants Canada
 France
 Germany
 Italy
 Japan
 United Kingdom
 United States
 European Union
Follows45th G7 summit
Precedes47th G7 summit

The 46th G7 summit of the leaders of the Group of Seven was originally scheduled for June 10–12, 2020, at Camp David, United States.[1][2] However, the summit was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Planned venue

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Attempt to hold summit at Trump resort

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The choice of the summit's location was controversial. The Secret Service initially vetted ten sites for the summit and reduced that list to four (in Hawaii, Utah, California, and North Carolina).[3] They then eliminated the California and North Carolina sites, and added, at President Donald Trump's direction, the option of hosting at Trump National Doral in Miami.[3][4]

On October 17, 2019, Trump's acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney announced the summit would be held at the Trump National Doral, dismissing concerns about potential conflict of interests and the prospect of a president personally profiting from an official event.[4][5] Trump initially touted the benefits of using his resort for the conference and called the selection "something very good for our Country" but, two days later, after bipartisan criticism, announced that the G7 summit would no longer be held at Doral, blaming "Media & Democrat Crazed and Irrational Hostility" on his Twitter account.[6]

At the time of the announcement, Trump was the target of two lawsuits—D.C. and Maryland v. Trump and CREW v. Trump—alleging that he was violating the US Constitution's foreign and domestic emoluments clauses because of payments received from the Saudi government and other foreign governments for stays at his Trump International Hotel in Washington, D.C.[7][8] Legal experts debated whether hosting the G7 at a Trump-owned property would violate the Constitution's emoluments clauses.[9]

Selection of Camp David

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A Lodge at Camp David photographed in 1959

On December 3, 2019, it was announced that the summit would be held at Camp David, the country retreat of the President of the United States.[10] The same venue hosted the group's 38th summit in 2012.[11]

Postponements and cancellation

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In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Trump canceled the G7 at Camp David and said that the meeting would be conducted by video conference,[12] as in the case of a G7 session held on 16 April 2020.[13] Later, however, Trump suggested that the G7 could be held in person at the White House or Camp David.[14][15] In late May 2020, German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined Trump's invitation to attend a G7 summit in late June, citing the ongoing pandemic.[16] French President Emmanuel Macron, who is closely aligned with Merkel, made a phone call to Trump stating that the entire G7 should be present in person at a summit.[17] British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also suggested that he favored an in-person gathering.[14] On May 30, 2020, Trump delayed the summit until at least September 2020.[17]

In August 2020, Trump said that he wanted to delay the summit until after the November 2020 election.[18][19] No summit took place subsequently.[20]

Invitees

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Trump named India, Australia, Brazil, South Korea, and Russia as potential invitees to the summit, and said "I don't feel that as a G7 it properly represents what's going on in the world. It's a very outdated group of countries."[17] Trump's aides said that China would be a subject of G7+ discussions, but not a part of it,[21] and said that Trump intended to use the summit to build an anti-China bloc.[17]

In calls with Trump in early June 2020, invitations to join the summit were accepted by Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison,[22] Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro,[23] South Korean President Moon Jae-in,[24] and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.[25]

Trump's proposed invitation to Russian President Vladimir Putin

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On June 2, 2020, Trump initiated a call with Russian President Vladimir Putin offering to invite him to the G7 meeting. However, Trump's proposal to invite Putin was staunchly opposed by the UK and Canada. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said that Russia's "continued disrespect and flaunting of international rules and norms is why it remains outside of the G7 and why it will continue to remain out" and a spokesman for the British government said that Russia should not be readmitted to the group "unless it ceases aggressive and destabilizing activity that threatens the safety of UK citizens and the collective security of our allies."[26]

The European Union agreed that Russia should not be readmitted to the G7, with EU chief diplomat Josep Borrell, the High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, explaining that Trump did not have the unilateral power to change the permanent membership of the G7 or its scope: "The prerogative of the G7 chair, in this case the United States, is to issue guest invitations -- guest invitations reflect the host's priorities. But changing membership, changing the format on a permanent basis, is not a prerogative of the G7 chair."[27]

On August 10, 2020, Trump said that he had not decided whether to invite Putin, but this eventually became a moot point as the summit did not proceed.[19]

Participants

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The planned 46th G7 summit would have been the final summit for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, and U.S. President Donald Trump until the 51st G7 summit in 2025. However, it was ultimately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Abe handed over power to Yoshihide Suga on September 16, 2020; Conte handed over power to Mario Draghi on February 13, 2021; and Trump handed over power to Joe Biden on January 20, 2021.

Participants would have included the leaders of the G7 member states as well as representatives of the European Union. The President of the European Commission has been a permanently welcome participant, not a nation member per se, at all meetings and decision-making since 1981.

Core G7 members
Hosting member shown in bold text.
Member Represented by Title
Canada Canada Justin Trudeau Prime Minister
France France Emmanuel Macron President
Germany Germany Angela Merkel Chancellor
Italy Italy Giuseppe Conte Prime Minister
Japan Japan Shinzo Abe Prime Minister
United Kingdom United Kingdom Boris Johnson Prime Minister
United States United States Donald Trump President
European Union European Union Ursula von der Leyen Commission President
Charles Michel Council President
Invitees
Guest Represented by Title
Australia Australia Scott Morrison Prime Minister
Brazil Brazil Jair Bolsonaro President
India India Narendra Modi Prime Minister
South Korea South Korea Moon Jae-in President

Agenda

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Climate change

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Trump did not take part in the climate change mitigation discussions during the 44th meetings held in Canada or the 45th meetings held in France.[28] When the administration announced that the 46th meetings were to be held at the Trump property in Florida, Trump's acting White House Chief of Staff Mulvaney said, "climate change will not be on the agenda."[29]

References

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  1. ^ McCarthy, Tom (26 August 2019). "Trump defends bid to host G7 at his Miami resort: 'I don't care about money'". The Guardian.
  2. ^ "Prime Minister concludes productive G7 Leaders' Summit in France". Government of Canada (Press release). PMO. 26 August 2019.
  3. ^ a b Fahrenthold, David A.; Dawsey, Josh (November 15, 2019). "Trump's Doral resort was a last-minute addition in search for G-7 site, newly released email shows". The Washington Post.
  4. ^ a b "White House says Trump property will host next G-7 summit, dismissing concerns over ethics and optics". CBS News. October 17, 2019. Retrieved October 21, 2019.
  5. ^ "Serial No. 116-69 (House Hearing) - Markup Of: H. Res. 755, Articles of Impeachment Against President Donald J. Trump Volume VII". GovInfo.gov. U.S. Government Publishing Office. 11 December 2019. pp. 64–78. Retrieved 1 July 2023. So we're going to talk about the G7....We're going to announce today that we're going to do the 46th G7 Summit on June 10th through June 12th at the Trump National Doral facility in Miami, Florida.
  6. ^ Romero, Dennis (October 19, 2019). "Trump says his Florida Doral resort will no longer host G-7 summit". NBC News.
  7. ^ Law, Tara (October 20, 2019). "President Trump Backs Down on Hosting G7 Meeting at His Florida Doral Resort". Time.
  8. ^ LaFraniere, Sharon (September 13, 2019). "U.S. Appeals Court Reinstates Emoluments Case Against Trump". The New York Times. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  9. ^ Wolf, Zachary B. (October 21, 2019). "Was Trump's plan to host the G7 at his golf course unconstitutional?". CNN. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  10. ^ Malloy, Allie. "Trump announces G7 to be hosted at Camp David after Doral reversal". CNN. Retrieved 13 December 2019.
  11. ^ "White House Moves G8 Summit From Chicago To Camp David". CBS Chicago. March 5, 2012. Retrieved December 13, 2019.
  12. ^ Mason, Jeff (2020-03-19). "Trump cancels G7 at Camp David over coronavirus, to hold videoconference instead". financialpost.com. Retrieved 2020-03-19.
  13. ^ Video conference with G7 leaders Roundtable (16/04/20, Brussels), European Commission.
  14. ^ a b Trump delays 'outdated' G7 leaders' summit, BBC News (May 31, 2020).
  15. ^ Trump says G7 summit could happen in person at Camp David, Agence France-Presse (May 21, 2020).
  16. ^ Matthew Karnitschnig, David M. Herszenhorn, Jacopo Barigazzi and Andrew Gray, Merkel rebuffs Trump invitation to G7 summit, Politico.EU (May 29, 2020).
  17. ^ a b c d Kevin Liptak, Inside Trump's decision to delay the G7 meeting, CNN (May 31, 2020).
  18. ^ Orion Rummler, Trump says G7 summit will be delayed until after the election, Axios (August 10, 2020).
  19. ^ a b "Trump says he is inclined to host G7 meeting after the November 3 election". Reuters. August 11, 2020. Retrieved August 12, 2020.
  20. ^ Andrea Shalal; Jeff Mason (18 November 2020). "Trump has made no plans to host G7 summit: diplomatic sources". Reuters. Retrieved 18 January 2021.
  21. ^ Chidanand Rajghatta, G7 Countries: Donald Trump wants to expand G7 to G10/11 to Include India, Times News Network (Times of India (May 31, 2020).
  22. ^ Australian PM accepts G7 invitation during call with Trump, Reuters (June 2, 2020).
  23. ^ "Araújo comenta 'entrada do Brasil num G7 reconfigurado'". RENOVA Mídia (in Brazilian Portuguese). 2020-06-04. Archived from the original on 2020-09-23. Retrieved 2020-11-29.
  24. ^ Moon accepts Trump's offer to join expanded G7, Korea JoongAng Daily (June 2, 2020).
  25. ^ PM Modi accepts Trump invite for G-7 summit, Tribune News Service (June 2, 2020).
  26. ^ Julian Borger, Donald Trump offers to invite Vladimir Putin to expanded G7 summit, The Guardian (June 1, 2020).
  27. ^ Donald Trump does not have the power to change G7 format: EU, Agence France-Presse (June 2, 2020).
  28. ^ Teirstein, Zoya (August 26, 2019). "Donald 'I'm an environmentalist' Trump skips G7 climate meeting". Grist. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  29. ^ Holden, Emily (October 17, 2019). "Climate crisis will not be discussed at G7 next year, says Trump official". The Guardian. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
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