Trump speaks with European leaders ahead of summit this week

[webfact]

Trump speaks with European leaders ahead of summit this week

By Roberta Rampton

 

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks in the Rose Garden after meetings at the White House in Washington, U.S. June 30, 2017. REUTERS/Jim Bourg

 

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump spoke with German and Italian leaders on Monday, a White House official said, ahead of a summit of the Group of 20 leading economies this week that could expose his sharp differences with world powers on trade and other issues.

 

Trump is preparing for the two-day G20 summit that starts in Hamburg on Friday, just over a month after a G7 summit in Sicily showed deep divisions between Trump and other Western leaders on climate change, trade and migration.

 

A fractious first NATO summit with Trump also left European allies wondering where the military alliance goes next.

 

Trump will hold separate meetings with various leaders in Hamburg, including host German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and a potentially difficult first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

 

Trump announced on Twitter that he would be talking on the phone with leaders from Germany, Italy and France on Monday. The White House later said in a statement that the calls would be with Merkel and Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, but did not mention French President Emmanuel Macron.

 

Trump and Macron spoke last week when the U.S. president accepted an invitation to attend Bastille Day ceremonies in Paris on July 14.

 

Representatives for the White House did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Representatives for Macron's office could not immediately be reached for comment.

 

In remarks last week, Merkel raised the prospect of an open clash with Trump at the Hamburg summit, although some Trump administration officials have played down the discord.

 

Heather Conley, a State Department official during the Republican George W. Bush administration, said the United States' European allies are still shocked after the G7 and NATO summits with Trump cast doubt over Washington's relation with its allies.

 

“There’s concern he could improve it – but could also do further damage,” said Conley, who is now with the CSIS think tank in Washington.

 

Russia and the United States are still discussing the timing of the encounter between Trump and Putin, a Kremlin aide said on Monday.

 

Since Trump was elected U.S. president, Russian has been keenly anticipating his first meeting with Putin, hoping it would trigger a reset in U.S.-Russia relations that plunged to post-Cold War lows under Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama.

 

But with Trump embroiled in controversy at home over his associates' potential links to Moscow, the session with Putin has become a minefield. Too warm a meeting would allow Trump's domestic opponents to accuse him of being a Kremlin stooge.

 

High-level U.S. diplomat Thomas Shannon met on Monday with Russia's ambassador to Washington, Sergei Kislyak, to prepare for the Trump-Putin meeting, the State Department said.

 

They also discussed scheduling a new meeting between Shannon and Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, which Moscow canceled in June in anger at expanded U.S. sanctions on Russia.

 

(Additional reporting by Susan Heavey in Washington,; Andrew Callus and Richard Lough in Paris and Denis Dyomkin and Maria Tsvetkova in Moscow; Writing by Alistair Bell; Editing by Frances Kerry and Jonathan Oatis)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2017-07-04

[darksidedog]

Well this should be quite interesting. Lots of opportunities for controversy and disaster, which Donald seems to have an amazing quality for finding. I don't think it would go down to well for him to be tweeting after a bad meeting, personal insults about world leaders. Germany would be quite pissed if he called Merkel a prune faced old trout or makes comments about the "time of the month!"

Edited July 3, 2017 by darksidedog

[boomerangutang]

Trump talking on the phone;  "Umm, I guess we should all get along."

European leader, "Ok, I'm prepared to get along."

Trump, "You know, to get along with me, you've got to praise me.  Ok, maybe not praise me, but at least not put me down......"

Euro leader: "You mean denigrate?"

Trump, "Right, whatever fancy word you wanna use, I don't know, but don't put me down, and we'll get along fine - you get where I'm coming from?  Sabes?"

Euro leader:  "Mr. Trump, I'd like to talk about important issues, like climate change....."

Trump:  "Whatever. Actually fake media is the most important issue.  That's what I spend all my calories attacking."

Euro leader, "Mr. Trump, can you point out one issue where the media reported a false statement?"

Trump:  "There you go, putting me down. Who is worried about facts?  I'm talking about alternative facts.  You asked me about Global warming.  I heard snow was falling in Iceland yesterday.  Snow is not warm.  There you go, it proves global warming is a big fat hoax aimed at getting American rich people to pay taxes."

[boomerangutang]

2 hours ago, darksidedog said:

Well this should be quite interesting. Lots of opportunities for controversy and disaster, which Donald seems to have an amazing quality for finding. I don't think it would go down to well for him to be tweeting after a bad meeting, personal insults about world leaders. Germany would be quite pissed if he called Merkel a prune faced old trout or makes comments about the "time of the month!"

How much trust do I have that Trump will be a decent person qualified to represent the great country of the USA?    About as much trust as I have in your grandmother winning the men's decathlon in the next Olympics.

[ianc66]

Who dialed the phone for him?

[Thaidream]

I expect a scenario like this:

 

Trump and son in law Jared in the meeting hall-

 

Trump to Jared:     Look there's Merkel- That hag really needs a face lift!

 

Jared to Trump:     Shhh.  She's coming our way

 

Merkel to Trump:  Guten Morgen. Herr Trump!  (Merkel moving on)

 

Trump to Jared:    Did Merkel say something about my hair.  Wait till she sees Twitter tonight!

 

Jared to Trump:    I'll explain it to you later.

 

Trump greeting Macron:  Hey Frenchie!  How did you like those frog legs I sent you.

 

Macron to Trump:      Not Funny Donald!

 

Trump to Macron:    Lighten Up! I sent May a bag of limes.  Can't you people take a joke?

 

Trump eyeing Putin;    Vlady- finally we meet again.  Forget about Crimea.Forget about Syria.          

                                         Those Russian hookers still around?

 

Putin to Trump:             (Big Smile from Putin)  Donald-  I have a surprise for you!!!

 

Trump to Jared:            Cancel all my evening appointments!  I'm going on the piss!

 

Jared (under his breath):   Good Lord!  The freaking meeting has even started yet!!

 

In the background- that old  Trump favorite song plays :  And the beat goes on..

 

 

 

 

[nasanews]

I wonder why did Trump stop his way of handshaking?

[Jingthing]

The clown president has made the USA a laughingstock. Weak at home. Weak abroad. Strong on twitter. 

[boomerangutang]

Trump to Putin:  "Hey bud, we're cool about the P tapes - you destroyed them, didn't you?"

 

Putin:  "No Trumpski. They're in a vault along with worse tapes.  Remember when you visited the animal shed behind the big Moscow circus tent?"

 

Trump: "Oh shit, no. I mean yes.  You didn't film with the animals, did you?"

 

Putin: "I'm ex-KGB chief.  What do I not film? ha ha ha."

 

Trump: "Ok, what do I have to do to get you to destroy those tapes?"

 

Putin: "Sometime we're going to roll tanks into Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.  You know we always owned those places, even before your General Washington cut down that cherry tree."

 

Trump: "Yea, I know about Washington.  He had wooden teeth and slaves."

 

Putin:  "Anyhow, when we roll tanks into those little territories, you're not going to do anything to resist us.  You got that?  If you're a good boy, we won't release any tapes.  I don't think Melania or Ivanka would like everyone to see those tapes."

 

Trump:  "Ok. Thanks for being such a good guy."

[boomerangutang]

6 hours ago, Jingthing said:

The clown president has made the USA a laughingstock. Weak at home. Weak abroad. Strong on twitter. 

40 years from now, he'll be known as 'Trump the Twit.'

[Thongkorn]

I thought there was only One leader in Europe, Or thinks she is Her Merkel.

[ilostmypassword]

8 minutes ago, Thongkorn said:

I thought there was only One leader in Europe, Or thinks she is Her Merkel.

Who couldn't even bring one tiny province of Belgium to heel.  Clearly she's a Fuhrer in the making.

[Becker]

5 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

40 years from now, he'll be known as 'Trump the Twit.'

Or just replace the "i" with an "a". It is after all what his little hands most yearn to grab. I suggest that when the man-child is finally tossed onto the stinkiest part of history's scrap heap a new monument be carved into Mount Rushmore - that of a giant t**t. 

That way we can forever be reminded of the dangers of stupidity.

[Si Thea01]

12 hours ago, boomerangutang said:

40 years from now, he'll be known as 'Trump the Twit.'

Unfortunately, I would say that neither of us will be around to see how wrong you are.

[Scott]

A distasteful post has been removed.  

[boomerangutang]

9 hours ago, ilostmypassword said:

Who couldn't even bring one tiny province of Belgium to heel.  Clearly she's a Fuhrer in the making.

Way out of line.  Merkel may have some faults, but she's no 'Fuhrer in the making'.  

 

If anything, she leans too much to being a 'bleeding heart liberal' - the opposite of a Fuhrer.

 

It's self-evident, but the more Trump loses any little bit of respectability he ever had, the more it elevates Merkel and other European leaders' stature.   Same for Aussie, NZ, Canadian, Japanese, and other level-headed leaders worldwide.  Trump is a one-man destructo-force for the image of the USA.