Trump’s meetings with world leaders

Flaps ensued after Trump’s previous international meetings, including:

uThe Article 5 affair: At his first global summit, a meeting of NATO members in May in Brussels, Trump annoyed some allies by declining to specifically endorse the organization’s mutual defense commitment, known as Article 5. German Chancellor Angela Merkel suggested that Europe could no longer count on the United States for defense. Trump called for Europeans to spend more money on their own defense. Only after returning to Washington did Trump reaffirm the alliance’s commitment to treat an attack on one ally as an attack on all. uThe Sicilian golf cart:

Tensions followed Trump from Brussels to the Italian island of Sicily, where Trump clashed with leaders of the Group of Seven nations over trade and climate change policy. As G-7 members took a walking tour of the ancient mountain village of Taormina, Trump followed in a golf cart. uThe Putin parlay: Delegates to the Group of 20 nations summit in Hamburg looked on as Trump spent hours talking with Russian President Vladimir Putin. A formal meeting set for 30 minutes ran for more than two hours, and the pair also spoke at length at a G-20 dinner. All this came as a U.S. special counsel investigated allegations of Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with Trump associates.