Photo reveals story of G7 summit as US President faces down world leaders
A STRIKING image of US President Donald Trump and German Chancellor Angela Merkel displaying less-than-friendly body language has become a defining image of the contentious meeting of the leaders of the world’s advanced economies at the G7 summit.
The picture, taken on Saturday by German government photographer, Jesco Denzel, shows a standing Mrs Merkel with her hands firmly planted on a table staring down at Mr Trump, who is seated with his arms folded and expression defiant.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stands at Mr Trump’s right, also with folded arms, as the French President Emmanuel Macron leans in at the table along with Mrs Merkel.
The photo was Tweeted by Mrs Merkel’s spokesman, Steffen Seibert.
Shortly afterwards, the White House issued a separate photo showing a sitting Mr Trump speaking as Mrs Merkel, Mr Abe and
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau listen.
The G7 took place on Friday and Saturday in the Quebec resort town of Charlevoix in Canada, which holds the rotating leadership this year.
Saturday’s picture was not the first awkward moment between Mr Trump and Mrs Merkel, who makes no secret of her disagreement with the American leader’s approach on trade, his rejection of the deal to limit Iran’s nuclear programme and his decision to take the United States out of the global Paris Accord, signed in a bid to tackle climate change.
Mrs Merkel’s March 2017 visit to the White House was marked by Mr Trump either not hearing or ignoring her offer to shake hands in the Oval Office.
A subsequent visit in April earlier this year warranted only a working lunch for the German Chancellor, several days after fellow EU leader Mr Macron got the full, formal, state dinner treatment on his trip to Washington.
The Charlevoix G7 summit was marked by sharp disagreements over the US President’s decision to impose higher import taxes on aluminium and steel imports. The measure hits EU trading partners even though the main target is overproduction by state-backed Chinese producers, who Europe and the US have long complained have flooded markets with cheap steel.
The G7 summit participants managed to patch over their disagreements and agree to disagree on some issues in a joint final statement.
Yet, after leaving the summit, Mr Trump Tweeted that he would instruct US officials not to endorse the G7 statement, because he objected to comments from summit host Mr Trudeau.
Mr Trudeau has said all countries attending the G7 summit have signed a joint communique, despite rising trade tensions with the US.
Mr Trudeau said the US, Canada, the UK, France, Germany, Italy and Japan have reached agreement on “consensus language”.
Mr Trudeau said the leaders had “rolled up our sleeves” and settled on language they could agree to on a broad range of issues.