Trump, Merkel to hold meeting

WASHINGTON/BERLIN: US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel plan to meet in Hamburg on Thursday, the eve of a Group of 20 summit, Merkel’s spokesman said.

“Indeed a meeting with the US president is planned before the G20 summit, most probably in the early evening of Thursday,” Merkel’s spokesman Steffen Seibert said at a press briefing on Monday. Differences on climate change, trade, refugees and other issues are expected to flare at the July 7-8 meeting of world leaders from major industrialised and emerging economies in the northern port city.

Last week Merkel met with key European leaders and vowed to make a stand for climate protection and open markets at the meeting with Trump.

KREMLIN STILL DISCUSSING PUTIN-TRUMP DATE

Russia and the US are still discussing the timing of the first face-to-face encounter between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin, expected to take place at a G20 summit, a Kremlin aide said on Monday.

Kremlin foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters the meeting would happen on the sidelines of the G20 summit, in Hamburg, but it was not yet finalised how it would fit into the summit’s schedule. “We will be looking for certain breaks, windows to hold this, the most important, meeting,” Ushakov said.

“We have a lot of issues, which should be discussed at the highest level ... That’s why this meeting, this first personal contact, is so important.” Asked about the agenda for the meeting, Ushakov said: “I’ve heard the Americans want to raise the issues of terrorism and Syria. It seems to me that would be pretty reasonable.”

BRITAIN DISMISSES TALK OF TRUMP’S VISIT

The British government is not aware of any plans for Trump to visit the UK in the next few weeks, Prime Minister Theresa May’s spokesperson said amid reports that the US President is planning a flying visit to the country.

Some UK media reports had suggested that Trump utilise a gap between his visit to Hamburg and a planned visit to France for Bastille Day to drop in the UK. “I am not aware of any plans for the President to visit the UK in the next few weeks,” the spokesperson said.

A formal state visit invitation had been accepted by Trump.