schema:articleBody
| - European Council president Charles Michel will attend a G7 summit that US President Donald Trump plans to host soon "if health conditions allow it, naturally," his spokesman said Thursday. Michel, whose council represents the 27 EU national leaders in Brussels, has indicated he is willing to accept Trump's invitation on that basis, spokesman Barend Leyts told AFP. Trump said on Wednesday that he wants to hold the annual G7 summit at the Camp David presidential retreat outside Washington DC, with his counterparts from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan flying in. He tweeted that he wanted the get-together to happen "on the same or similar date" as originally planned before the coronavirus crisis disrupted diplomatic schedules, between June 10 and 12. The United States is the worst-hit country in the world for COVID-19 infections, recording more than 1.5 million cases and over 93,000 deaths. Trump, who will be seeking re-election in November, has been urging America's economy to get going again after lockdowns that have sent the unemployment rate skyrocketing to a post-World War II high. The G7 summit, he tweeted, would be a sign of "normalisation". French President Emmanuel Macron has said he is prepared to attend -- again, "if the health conditions allow," according to an aide, who noted that the "G7 is a major meeting". The Group of Seven major advanced countries holds its annual meetings to discuss international economic coordination -- an issue even more important as they struggle with the economic fall-out from restrictions imposed to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. rmb/dc/jh
|