Donald Trump has insisted he is not seeking to profit from the US presidency after revealing a resort he owns in Miami is in the running to host the next G7 summit in 2020. Trump claimed it had cost him '$3bn to $5bn' to be president and suggested hosting the event at his Trump National Doral Miami resort would not make him any money, before reeling off a list of facts about the property
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G7 cash for Amazon fires is ‘chump change’, say campaigners
World leaders offer $20m now plus reforestation plan, but critics want major policy shifts
The G7’s pledge of $20m (£16m) to douse the fires in the Amazon has been dismissed as “chump change” by environmental campaigners, as concerns grow about political cooperation on deforestation and other climate issues.
The summit host, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, told reporters he would try to deal with the long-term causes by creating an international alliance to save the rainforest, with details of a reforestation programme to be unveiled at next month’s UN climate meeting in New York.
Continue reading...Boris Johnson refuses to rule out forcing through no-deal Brexit
PM repeatedly declines to rule out proroguing parliament if MPs try to thwart his Brexit policy
Boris Johnson has repeatedly refused to rule out proroguing parliament to try to push through his Brexit policy.
Pressed repeatedly at a press conference at the end of the G7 summit about what he would do if MPs tried to thwart his policy, the British prime minister declined to rule out shutting down parliament.
Continue reading...Britain can easily cope with no-deal Brexit, claims Boris Johnson
PM said EU leaders would be blamed for their ‘obduracy’ and that UK could keep much of £39bn settlement
Britain could “easily cope” with a no-deal Brexit, which would be the fault of EU leaders’ “obduracy”, Boris Johnson claimed at the summit of G7 countries in France, as he continued to resist mounting pressure to spell out his own plans for breaking the deadlock.
“I think we can get through this, this is a great, great country, the UK, we can easily cope with a no-deal scenario,” Johnson insisted in Biarritz, as he made his debut on the international stage as prime minister with a series of bilateral meetings with world leaders including Donald Trump, the EU council president, Donald Tusk, and the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi.
Continue reading...G7: Trump’s demands for Russia’s readmission cause row in Biarritz
US president argues Putin should be included in discussions on Iran, Syria and North Korea
Donald Trump has rowed with his fellow G7 leaders over his demand that Russia be readmitted to the group, rejecting arguments that it should remain an association of liberal democracies, according to diplomats at the summit in Biarritz.
The disagreement led to heated exchanges at a dinner on Saturday night inside the seaside resort’s 19th-century lighthouse. According to diplomatic sources, Trump argued strenuously that Vladimir Putin should be invited back, five years after Russia was ejected from the then G8) for its annexation of Crimea.
Continue reading...G7 summit: Iran foreign minister makes surprise Biarritz appearance
Visit comes during summit at which policy on Iran has been one of most contentious issues
Iran’s foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, has made a surprise appearance in Biarritz meeting Emmanuel Macron, in the midst of a G7 summit where western policy towards Iran has been one of the most contentious issues.
On Sunday evening, Zarif posted a picture on Twitter of his meeting with the French president and the foreign minister, Jean-Yves Le Drian, reportedly in the office of the Biarritz mayor, across the road from a building where G7 leaders had been meeting. The Iranian foreign minister said he had also provided a briefing for British and German officials.
Continue reading...G7 leaders told to scrap discriminatory gender laws from statute books
Gender equality advisory council says states must begin enshrining equal rights in law
The G7 leaders have been told to get rid of discriminatory gender laws that still exist on their statute books and begin enshrining equal rights in the legal system.
All G7 countries, including the UK, still have discriminatory laws on their statute books or substantial loopholes that allow discrimination, the G7’s gender equality advisory council said at a key summit session attended by all leaders, including the US president, Donald Trump.
Continue reading...French climate activists protest as Macron attends G7 summit
Marchers carrying inverted portraits of president demand more action on climate crisis
Hundreds of climate activists have marched in south-western France carrying portraits of President Emmanuel Macron that they had illegally removed from town halls and which police had been seeking to recover amid a judicial crackdown.
As the G7 leaders met in Biarritz, demonstrators from a nationwide civil disobedience movement demanding more action on the climate emergency appeared in nearby Bayonne brandishing dozens of portraits the state accuses them of stealing from civic buildings.
Continue reading...‘Sure. Why not?’: Trump admits to second thoughts on China trade war – video
Donald Trump has admitted he may rethink his deepening trade war with China after criticism from fellow world leaders at the G7 summit in Biarritz. Asked at a working breakfast with Boris Johnson if he had had second thoughts about the standoff, the president replied: 'Yeah, sure. Why not? … I have second thoughts about everything'
Continue reading...The west takes its eyes off Africa at its peril | Larry Elliott
The G7 thought it had solved Africa’s problems, but rising child poverty is a ticking time bomb
Time was when Africa dominated gatherings of the G7. In the period between two summits held in the UK – Birmingham in 1998 and Gleneagles in 2005 – the talk was of little else. There was public activism and it led to political action.
In part, that was because the big developed countries were enjoying a spell of low-inflationary growth and could look beyond their own problems to see a bigger picture. There was the occasional financial panic, but the G7 thought the problems of economic management had largely been solved and all that was needed was a bit of tinkering by technocratic central bankers.
Continue reading...Donald Trump tells Boris Johnson at G7 he wants a ‘very big’ trade deal – video
The US president talks up the prospects of a US-UK trade deal after meeting Boris Johnson at the G7 summit in Biarritz, praising the PM as 'the right man' to deliver Brexit and suggesting a trade agreement between the two countries could be struck quickly
Continue reading...G7: Scott Morrison to push for action against online terrorist content
Australia’s PM flies into Biarritz, where he will have talks with world leaders – and a chat with Donald Trump
Scott Morrison will try to push countries further on taking action against terrorist and violent extremist material on social media during a series of meetings on the sidelines of the G7 summit.
Australia’s prime minister arrived in the French surfing town of Biarritz on Saturday night (early Sunday AEST) for the high-powered international forum.
Continue reading...Macron hopes to convince G7 leaders to halt trade war and heal divisions
- French president lunches with Donald Trump before summit
- Not the Messiah: Trump insists ‘chosen one’ remark was a joke
French president Emmanuel Macron has said he hopes to convince world leaders to pull back from trade war and heal growing divisions at the G7 summit in Biarritz, despite signs that will be a daunting task.
Related: Boris Johnson prepares for Biarritz balancing act with Donald Trump
Continue reading...Macron: ‘All G7 powers must help Brazil fight raging Amazon fires’
French president talks up trade sanctions as world leaders convene and thousands of Brazilians march against Bolsonaro
Emmanuel Macron has asked for world powers to help Brazil and its neighbours fight the fires raging in the Amazon and to plan huge replanting programmes. The appeal came as the French president piled pressure on Brazil’s far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro, who has been accused of fuelling the burning of the rainforest.
As environmental protesters marched nearby, the G7 summit’s, opening meeting was dominated by the spectre of economic repercussions for Brazil and its South American neighbours and showed how the Amazon is becoming a battleground between Bolsonaro and the west. Many governments have become alarmed that vast swathes of the Amazon are going up in smoke, affecting biodiversity and worsening the climate crisis.
Continue reading...Biarritz in lockdown as G7 summit descends on French resort
More than 13,000 police arrive in town with authorities saying any unrest will not be tolerated
The French seaside resort of Biarritz is under lockdown by security forces ahead of the G7 summit, with more than 13,000 police as well as a special magistrates court set up to try anyone committing offences.
The historic centre of the Basque town was emptied of tourists on Friday before the arrival of leaders of the world’s advanced economies including the US president, Donald Trump, and the UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, who will hold three days of talks on global issues from the climate emergency to trade wars.
Continue reading...Britain to be ‘energetic partner’ after Brexit, PM to tell G7 allies
Boris Johnson also expected to discuss Iran with Donald Trump at summit in Biarritz
Britain will continue to be an “energetic partner” to its international allies after Brexit, Boris Johnson has said, as he prepared to fly to Biarritz for the G7 summit – his first major appearance on the world stage as prime minister.
Fresh from Brexit discussions in Berlin and Paris this week, Johnson will use a string of bilateral meetings with world leaders in the French resort to underline Britain’s determination to remain internationalist.
Continue reading...French wine-makers hope for G7 detente with Trump over tariffs
Trump has threatened high tariffs on French wine in response to Macron’s tech tax
French wine-makers are increasingly concerned about Donald Trump’s threats to introduce high tariffs on French wine in retaliation for Emmanuel Macron’s tax on global technology companies, as world leaders gather for the Biarritz G7 summit this weekend.
A new front in Trump’s international trade wars could open up across France’s vineyards, damaging the livelihoods and jobs of small producers, if the US president decides to substantially increase tariffs on French wine as punishment for what he has called the “foolishness” of the new levy on the annual revenues of technology companies.
Continue reading...Macron thinks he can handle Trump, but G7 will put that to the test
Trump’s mood is volatile, and the French leader’s approach has had only limited success
Emmanuel Macron reckons he has found the best way of dealing with Donald Trump. It involves acceptance that the US president’s mind will not be changed where a campaign promise is involved. But on everything else – keep talking.
Macron’s method is about to be put to the test once more as Trump arrives on Saturday to join the G7 summit of the world’s major industrialised democracies in Biarritz. So far, the results have been thin at best.
Continue reading...Every G7 country should have a feminist foreign policy | Emma Watson, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, Katja Iversen and Michael Kaufman
We members of the G7’s Gender Equality Advisory Council are urging countries to ditch archaic and discriminatory laws and promote empowerment
The sheer tenacity of women raising their voices and organising for fundamental change has been, and will continue to be, the driving force for achieving women’s rights and a gender-equal world. Yet we cannot ignore the fundamental role that governments can play in either promoting or thwarting change.
That is why the four of us accepted French president Emmanuel Macron’s invitation to join 32 colleagues to form a G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council. On Sunday, we will present the culmination of our work; a package of recommended laws focused on ending gender-based violence; ensuring inclusive, equitable, and quality health and education; promoting the economic empowerment of women; and combating discrimination, ensuring full gender equality in policies and public life. In each area we point to laws from around the world that illustrate the type of action countries should take.
Continue reading...G7 leaders wait nervously for Boris Johnson’s debut on the world stage
As the prime minister heads for the Biarritz summit, he has no relationship with the other governments and very little trust
For weeks things have been quiet in the summer heat. But in recent days the normal diplomatic back-channelling between London, Brussels, Paris, Berlin and Rome has cranked into gear before the G7 meeting in Biarritz of the world’s most advanced economies.
British officials have been liaising with their EU counterparts on how to get on the right side of the trade war between the US and China, tread a diplomatic fine line over the European-backed Iranian nuclear deal opposed by Donald Trump and get the rhetoric right on the precarious situation in Hong Kong in the presence of the Chinese leader Xi Jinping. “This is a diplomatic quagmire of a G7,” said a European diplomat.
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