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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The reason Trump is spending as little time as possible at the Nato summit
Donald Trump will spend as little time as possible on European soil next week when he heads to a crucial Nato summit for just 24 hours. He was set to arrive in The Hague on Monday evening before returning to Washington on Wednesday, but the White House says he will now arrive on Tuesday. A week after he left a meeting of the G7 in Canada early, apparently irritated at having to sit through a meeting on wildfires when his mind was on the Middle East, it will raise fears among allies that he has no time for the sorts of summits that underpin international diplomacy. Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary, said the shortened trip was not a snub, but a reflection of how Nato has tightened the schedule. 'The president is a man of efficiency. He wants to get things done,' she said. 'More action, less talk.' Mr Trump has expressed his irritation with Nato in the past, even threatening to withdraw the US in protest at the way allies were shirking spending targets. But relations have improved in recent years as member states have accepted Mr Trump's arguments. His new schedule means he will still arrive in time for a leaders' dinner and will attend a session devoted to discussing allies' efforts to spend the equivalent of five percent of their gross domestic product on defence. 'He wants to see that happen,' said Ms Leavitt. At the same time, the tight turnaround reflects Mr Trump's impatience with big, multilateral groups. The president upended this week's G7 summit in Kananaski, Canada, hurrying home on Monday night to deal with the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran. He had hinted at his frustration as he addressed the media beside Sir Keir Starmer during the afternoon. He was asked about the chances of reaching a deal with Iran and said: 'As soon as we leave here we are going to do something. But I have to leave here. I have, you know, this commitment. I have a lot of commitments.' With the Middle East in flames, he then had to sit through a session on tackling wildfires. A former White House official said: 'He already thinks these meetings are a waste of time. I think you can see the timeline of a wildfire meeting followed by the announcement that he was leaving and draw your own conclusions.' Nato had already accounted for Mr Trump's mercurial nature, condensing its format from three sessions to a single two-and-a-half-hour meeting. Ms Leavitt said the president's travel plans simply reflected that shift. 'Nato has shortened its schedule,' she said. 'The president is rolling with the schedule that Nato has given us.' Organisers have shortened the summit and drafted an abbreviated joint statement in part to avoid a repeat of Mr Trump's last Nato meeting. In 2019, he left early, abandoning a planned press conference after other leaders were caught on camera joking about him. Brett Bruen, a former Obama official and president of the Global Situation Room, said the shortened trips were 'becoming a pattern.' 'He may not want to sit through a session on wildfires but it is the prerogative of the host of any of these summits to decide the agenda,' he said. More to the point, side meetings and other interactions were the place where a lot of business got done.
The Guardian
4 days ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Donald Trump leaving G7 meeting early snubbing planned meeting with Anthony Albanese
Donald Trump's press secretary has confirmed he will leave the G7 summit in Canada a day early, snubbing leaders including Anthony Albanese before planned talks. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president would return to the US. 'President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer. 'Much was accomplished, but because of what's going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with heads of state.' It is a blow for Albanese who had expected to hold his first face-to-face talks with the president, including covering trade issues and the US review of Aukus. He will still meet with leaders including the UK's Keir Starmer and France's Emmanuel Macron at the Kananaskis summit site. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion More details to follow
Bloomberg
4 days ago
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Trump to Leave G-7 Summit and Return to Washington on Monday
By Updated on Save President Donald Trump is cutting short his visit to the Group of Seven leaders' summit, according to the White House, and returning to Washington. 'President Trump will return to Washington tonight so he can attend to many important matters,' White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Monday.
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Business
- Washington Post
51st state? Bring it on, these Canadians say.
CALGARY, Alberta — As President Donald Trump visits western Canada for this week's Group of Seven economic summit, a passionate minority is thrilled by his talk of making them part of a 51st state. Across most of Canada, Trump's annexation talk has caused outrage. His antagonism has stirred displays of flag-waving patriotism that are unusual here. In downtown Calgary, shops that sell maple syrup and other Canadian souvenirs have seen a surge in purchases of Canadian-flag lapel pins. A bookstore says 'Proudly Canadian' in its window. But the U.S. president's expansionist designs have also galvanized a 'Make Alberta Great Again' movement, which has gained traction among some in western Canada long frustrated by a Liberal government that they say stifles the oil and gas industry that drives their economy. For them, Trump's 51st-state talk is not a provocation, but a chance for lower taxes, Second Amendment gun rights and a shot at the American Dream. At the Red Deer Curling Center, about 90 miles north of Calgary, hundreds of Albertans gathered Saturday to discuss their frustrations with Ottawa at an event hosted by the right-wing media company Rebel News. Several in the crowd wore black or red Make Alberta Great Again caps, and provincial flags flew from their trucks in the packed parking lot. Most cheered as a speaker standing in front of a black curtain that partially covered the rink's scoreboard made the case for forming a 51st state. Jacob Fraser, selling bags of Resistance Coffee at the event, said he was 'excited' when Trump began talking about annexing all or part of Canada. The 37-year-old sees joining the United States as an opportunity to gain more freedom of speech, more gun rights and more opportunities to pursue his own businesses. 'We're very much intertwined with the States, and as Albertans, especially, we're very much more compatible with the American perspectives than the current Canadian perspective,' he said. 'For me and a lot of my social groups, it's a hopeful moment and an exciting time in history.' Nationwide, that's clearly a minority view. Backlash to Trump, who was set to arrive here Sunday night, helped fuel Prime Minister Mark Carney's victory in late April — a stunning comeback by his Liberal Party over the Conservatives, who had a healthy lead before Trump's taunts. About 15 percent of all Canadians supported joining the United States as of a January poll by YouGov. That percentage was slightly larger in the prairie provinces, including Alberta — 'Canada's Texas' — where some say they have more in common with Republicans in the U.S. than with their compatriots in the rest of the country. Albertans who support joining the U.S. are a faction of a broader group of western Canadians who are alienated by Canada's government. They have made their presence visible with billboards and blue-rubber bracelets that say 'AB USA.' Shawn Harvey, a 52-year-old oil-field-tanker driver who lives in Edmonton, flaunted his support for joining the U.S. with a red, white and blue hockey jersey emblazoned with the number 51 and Trump's slogan 'Drill Baby Drill.' He has talked to immigration attorneys about attempting to seek political asylum in the U.S., and he is ready to make a deal with any liberal Americans who are considering a move to Canada to seek refuge from the second Trump administration. 'I'll trade places with them any day,' Harvey said during an interview in Edmonton at Montana's, a Canadian barbecue restaurant chain with antlers hanging on the walls. 'I'll burn my Canadian passport right in front of them, and I'll go there. No problem.' Feelings of discontent and alienation have long ebbed and flowed in the western prairie provinces of Alberta and Saskatchewan, home to natural resources such as crude oil, natural gas, potash and uranium. They rose after the 2019 federal elections, in which then-Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberals were shut out here but won enough seats in the rest of the country to form the government. In this year's elections, the Liberals won just 28 percent of the vote in Alberta. Whether Carney, who was raised in Edmonton, can placate prairie voters will pose an early test for the new prime minister. He has tried to mollify the disquiet, promising to make Canada 'the world's leading energy superpower in both clean and conventional energy.' Alberta could hold a referendum as soon as next year to ask voters whether they support separating from Canada. Polls show limited support for separatism, but the provincial government recently passed a law that makes it much easier for citizens to initiate a referendum on constitutional matters. Such a separation would be 'very unlikely,' said Duane Bratt, a political science professor at Mount Royal University in Calgary. And even if separation was approved, it would not necessarily lead to becoming part of the United States. Even many of the Canadians who support an independent Alberta are skeptical of attempting to join the U.S. 'Why go from one master to another master?' said Art Matsui, a 68-year-old resident of Calgary, who began to support Alberta independence in 2020 because he disagreed with the Canadian government's pandemic policies. Chances of the U.S. annexing Canada or one of its provinces are small. Both countries have constitutional barriers to such a move and limited political appetite to overcome those obstacles. Other provinces would be likely to block Alberta from leaving Canada, and in the U.S., Congress would have to pass a law to admit any new state. Ardent supporters of secession insist, however, that a split between Alberta and the rest of Canada is inevitable. They see joining the U.S. as the best step to address the economic and security challenges that a split could create. 'So why don't we just join the United States now?' said Peter Downing, an Edmonton-area separatist who previously led a political party called Wexit, a portmanteau of 'western' and 'exit.' More than four years before Trump told Trudeau that he wanted to make Canada the 51st U.S. state, Downing bought a giant billboard on the road to the province's legislative assembly that asked, 'Should Alberta join the U.S.?' The billboard featured a giant image of Trump's face. After Trump lost his reelection bid in 2020, Downing began to make inroads with conservatives in the U.S., even paying a visit to Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, where he said he missed a run-in with Trump by only a few minutes. How Trump became fixated on annexing Canada remains unclear. A White House official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to detail the president's thinking, told The Washington Post in March that the 51st-state concept sprang spontaneously into Trump's mind, that it is a serious proposal, and that it is motivated by his belief that annexation would benefit Americans and Canadians alike. After Trump floated the idea, Downing put up another huge billboard that pictured Trump visiting with Alberta's Conservative Premier Danielle Smith at Mar-a-Lago. 'Tell Danielle! Let's Join the United States,' it said. The billboard featured a link for a website that laid out arguments for Alberta to join the U.S., which included lower taxes as well as national security. Smith ultimately said she opposed any effort to join the U.S. — or to separate from Canada. Trump's visit is likely to intensify the debate, even as it strengthens the backlash among most Canadians to his policies. Protests of Trump's visit have been planned, and some of his critics say he should not be allowed to enter the country because felons are often inadmissible to Canada. In grocery stores, stickers on products note that they were made in Canada, a sign of how some Canadians are boycotting U.S. goods and travel. Sales of T-shirts that say 'Canadian' and other products have surged at Local Laundry, a Calgary clothing store that manufactures its products domestically. The business has grown 100 percent year over year and is on track to do its best year ever, said Connor Curran, the company's founder. 'It hit us a like a tsunami,' Curran said. 'People coming from all over the country wanting to support Canadian-made.' Calgary-based Process Color Print, which manufactures flags, has experienced the growing polarization of debate. The company saw a surge in sales of Canadian flags in February following Trump's comments. Many people in the city are just hanging the flags in their windows or directly on their houses because they don't have flagpoles, said Candice Mauro, the company's president. 'Our business is so booming,' Mauro said. She said it has been difficult to keep up with customer demand, and employees in the flag division are working overtime. In the weeks since April's elections, Mauro said, she has seen a 30 percent jump in flag sales. But this time, the demand is for the ultramarine Alberta provincial flag.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
As Trump heads to the G7, Canada hopes to avoid another Charlevoix-style eruption
OTTAWA — U.S. President Donald Trump is set to arrive Sunday in Alberta for the G7 summit — his first visit to Canada since leaving in a huff seven years ago. Ottawa could use everything from golfing and creative scheduling to special cabinet orders to make the visit successful and avoid a repeat diplomatic disaster. "He is somebody who is very prickly when he feels like he's not being fully respected," said Eric Miller, president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, a cross-border consultancy. "You want to make absolutely sure that … he walks away and says, 'You know, those Canadians aren't so bad after all.'" Better than last time The last time Trump was in Canada — for the G7 summit in the Charlevoix region of Quebec — things ended in a blowout. Trump refused to sign the communiqué, the published list of statements on common G7 issues that are mostly negotiated and agreed to by member nations ahead of time. He left early and lambasted Trudeau as "very dishonest and weak" in a spat over tariffs. The summit included what Miller called the "photograph for the ages" — of then German chancellor Angela Merkel and others standing sternly over a seated Donald Trump, who appeared to be glaring back with crossed arms. German Ambassador to Canada Matthias Lüttenberg put it bluntly when he told a June 4 panel that Ottawa was again navigating "very difficult circumstances" as G7 chair — and capably, in his view. "I mean, I wouldn't like to negotiate with a country at the table who's questioning my sovereignty as a state," he said. Sen. Peter Boehm, who was summit head in 2018, recalled two late nights of negotiations because the Trump administration didn't align with the others on including climate change or references to the "rules-based international order." Informal talks Prime Minister Mark Carney won office in April after repeatedly saying he could stand up to Trump's threats to ruin the Canadian economy in order to make the country an American state. Carney had a cordial visit to Washington in early May and even got praise from Trump on social media and in person, despite the president insisting Canada should still become a U.S. state. The two have continued talking. U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra revealed earlier this month that the president and Carney have exchanged frequent calls and texts on trade and tariffs. Miller said facetime between the two leaders in Alberta could help them make progress on economic concerns, as well as Trump's pitch to bring Canada into his proposed Golden Dome missile shield project. "Given that there is this conversation underway, it is important that they have an opportunity to continue that, and to meet perhaps in a setting that is less structured and formal than the Oval Office," Miller said. "Life is about imperfect choices, and it's absolutely the right thing to have Mr. Trump come to Canada." He said he's not sure if there will be any formal announcement, though he added Trump is keen to sign agreements with multiple countries ahead of his self-imposed July 9 deadline for so-called retaliatory tariffs. Miller said both Canada and the U.S. are likely to take credit for Ottawa announcing this month it will drastically speed up its pledge to meet NATO's defence spending target. Trump might also take note of the fact that he's in one of the few provinces that have opted to resume sales of U.S. alcohol, after all provinces banned it from their liquor store shelves in response to U.S. tariffs. Lower expectations Ottawa's decision to schedule relatively short group discussions among G7 leaders, and to invite numerous other world leaders, could mean more of the one-on-one meetings that Trump prefers. "Trump does not like multilateral meetings particularly. He loses interest," Boehm said. Canadian officials have said they are concentrating on releasing shorter, focused statements, which could avoid the sort of major blowups that may come from trying to craft the massive joint communiqués typical of almost all prior G7 summits. Former prime minister Jean Chretien told a panel Thursday that if Trump does have an outburst, G7 leaders should ignore him and "keep talking normally." Miller said that for Canada, "ensuring a positive agenda that doesn't lead to acrimony afterwards" means advancing its interests without isolating the U.S., particularly with so many guest leaders attending. "The trick that Mr. Carney has to pull off is to reassure the U.S. that it wants a good, positive relationship — while at the same time running vigorously, as quickly as possible, to try to build new relationships," he said. It's also entirely possible that Trump will leave before the meetings conclude. A visiting felon Keeping it positive is also likely why Ottawa will skirt rules that might bar Trump from crossing into Canada after he was found guilty on 34 criminal counts in a "hush money" trial in May 2024. Immigration lawyers say those convicted of serious crimes abroad must serve their time and wait five years before seeking a certificate of admissibility to Canada, though there are loopholes if someone seeks a visa for a compelling reason. The federal cabinet passed a formal order published in February that gives diplomatic immunity and privileges to "representatives of a foreign state that participate in the G7 meetings." The office of Immigration Minister Lena Metlege Diab would not say whether she had issued a special exemption, with her department citing privacy legislation. "Inadmissibility decisions are made on a case-by-case basis," spokesman Remi Lariviere wrote. Fore! Another way Canada could ensure a successful visit could be to get Trump to the Kananaskis Country Golf Course — a prospect much discussed in media reports that remained unconfirmed as of Friday afternoon. Carney gave Trump a hat and golf gear from that course during his visit to the Oval Office in May. Miller said that wasn't just a gimmick — Trump loves making deals while teeing off, and it could provide Carney or others with hours of facetime on a golf cart, which is Trump's comfort zone. "Golf has been pretty central to his life," he said. "It makes eminent sense to have Mr. Trump playing at a high-quality golf course." This report by The Canadian Press was first published June 14, 2025. Dylan Robertson, The Canadian Press Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
