Trump’s wife charms Putin. Now daughter enjoys summit limelight
ON A day that the G20 hosted a women’s empowerment working lunch, Donald Trump went the extra mile to make sure he empowered the women in his own family.
Months after appointing his daughter Ivanka as one of his official advisers, Mr Trump sent the ex-model to stand in for him at a G20 leaders’ meeting.
Earlier, his wife Melania charmed Vladimir Putin at an official dinner, having already been sent into a meeting between her husband and the Russian premier as a messenger by the US delegation to try to wind up their conversation.
Yesterday, Ivanka, 36, took up the seat reserved for the president during the third working session of the G20 leaders while Mr Trump attended separate meetings elsewhere.
G20 leaders often send proxies to working sessions while they hold bilateral meetings with other leaders, but it is thought to be the first time a leader’s daughter has fulfilled such a role.
Mr Trump spent two hours 16 minutes with Mr Putin on Friday, and Rex Tillerson, the US secretary of state, disclosed that presidential aides became exasperated that the president was allowing it to overrun for so long. Slots of 30 minutes are usually allotted for each bilateral meeting.
Mr Tillerson said: “They even sent in the first lady at one point to see if she could get us out of there, and that didn’t work either. We went another hour after.” At the dinner that followed, Mrs Trump was seated next to Mr Putin, and appeared to be getting on well as they smiled during their conversations.
Mr Trump, meanwhile, was sitting next to Juliana Awada, Argentina’s first lady, voted the world’s most elegant first lady by Hola! magazine last year.
At a concert before the dinner the Trumps sat next to the Emmanuel Macron, the French president, and his wife Brigitte. Mr Trump has faced criticism in the US for giving his family too much power in his administration. Jared Kushner, Ivanka’s husband, also at the G20, was appointed as one of his chief advisers in January.
Mr Trump also supported his daughter by joining a women’s entrepreneurship finance event, a project spearheaded by her. They were joined by Christine Lagarde, managing director of the International Monetary Fund.
Jim Yong Kim, World Bank president, said the initiative fund had so far raised $325million (£252million) from various governments.