U.S. President Trump Postpones G-7 Summit After Merkel Refuses To Attend

By Stefan J. Bos, Special Correspondent Worthy News

(Worthy News) – U.S. President Donald Trump said Saturday he will postpone until September the Group of Seven (G-7) summit after Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel refused to attend.

Speaking to reporters on Air Force One during his return to Washington from Cape Canaveral, Trump said he also wants to invite Australia, Russia, South Korea, and India to the meeting of the world’s major economies.

He called the G-7 in its current format a “very outdated group of countries.” His announcement came after Merkel’s office confirmed that she would not personally participate in the scheduled meeting in the United States.

Trump initially canceled and later wanted the gathering in June to portray the G-7 summit as a symbol of a return to normality from the upheaval of the coronavirus crisis.

However, “As of today, given the overall pandemic situation, she cannot commit to participating in person,” Merkel’s office explained.

Her dealing with the coronavirus outbreak also includes rescuing German flagship airline Lufthansa which has suffered from canceled flights due to the pandemic. On Saturday, a compromise worked out between the government and the European Union, overcame a significant hurdle toward final approval of a 9 billion-euro ($10 billion) bailout from Berlin.

Lufthansa said in published remarks that it had agreed to the compromise in which the airline will have to give up several prized landing slots at Munich and Frankfurt airports to the competition.

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