U.S. President Donald Trump was in Biarritz, France, on Saturday to attend the Group of Seven summit, a meeting of the leaders of the world's major industrialized countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed Trump and other leaders at Phare de Biarritz, a mid-19th-century lighthouse with panoramic views of the French coast, where they dined on Basque specialties concocted with the help of local chef Cedric Bechade. The menu included an appetizer of piperade followed by marmitako, a stew made with bluefin tuna caught by hand in the nearby fishing town of Saint-Jean-de-Luz.
That was the second meal Trump shared with Macron in Biarritz, despite his threats to tax French wine a day earlier.
During a lunch immediately after his arrival Saturday, the two leaders reiterated their desire to work together this weekend as they discuss a range of issues, including climate change; problems in Libya, Syria, North Korea, Ukraine and Iran; and growing insecurity in the Sahel region.
Macron called Trump his "special guest." Dismissing reports of a rift with his host, Trump said that he and Macron "actually have a lot in common" and "have been friends a long time."
"So far, so good," Trump said, "The weather is fantastic. Everybody's getting along. I think we will accomplish a lot this weekend."
French wine
As he left the White House on Friday night, however, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on French wine if France imposed a tax on U.S. tech companies.
“If they do that ... we’ll be taxing their wine like they’ve never seen before,” Trump said.
Trump first hinted at taxing French wine in a tweet last month.
During a briefing with reporters, a senior administration official said the president was "not going to back down in the face of countries like France going after our industry.” The official said that discussions about economic growth had been scheduled for Sunday as a "last minute" request by the White House, during which Trump was expected to push leaders on his trade agenda.
Speaking Friday ahead of the summit, European Council President Donald Tusk warned that trade wars between members of the G-7 would lead to "weakened trust" among them.
Myriad issues
Trump’s threat to punish one of the most iconic industries of his host country ahead of the summit added to the tension among G-7 leaders, who remain at odds over issues such as how to address climate change, how to deal with China and Iran, whether to bring Russia back into the fold, and Britain’s exit from the European Union.
With these deep divisions, consensus seems unlikely.
Tusk has acknowledged that “it has been increasingly difficult for us to find common language.” Meanwhile, Macron declared earlier there would be no joint communique at the end of the summit, citing disagreements involving Trump and other leaders on the key issues as one of the reasons.
It will be the first time in G-7 history that a summit will end without a communique.
Trump-Johnson
One of the most highly anticipated bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit will be the one between Trump and Boris Johnson, who took over as British prime minister after Theresa May failed to deliver on Brexit.
With less than three months until the deadline, Johnson was hammering the message earlier this week to get his country out of the EU in meetings with Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel. Johnson is hoping his meeting with Trump can further the prospect of a bilateral trade deal post-Brexit.
Analysts say such a deal is unlikely.
“There may be some people in the Trump camp who hope that there's going to be some discussion of a U.S.–U.K. trade agreement,” said Matthew Goodman from the Center for Strategic and International Studies, “but I don't think that's very likely until the issues around Brexit are resolved.”
Tusk has stressed that the bloc will not cooperate with Britain on a no-deal Brexit. He said, "We are willing to listen to ideas that are operational, realistic and acceptable to all EU member states," but he added that he hoped Johnson would not go down in history as “Mr. No-Deal.”
Trump is a longtime supporter of Brexit. In June, ahead of his visit to Britain, Trump urged Britain to go for a no-deal Brexit if it did not like the terms offered by the EU.
“If you don’t get the deal you want, if you don’t get a fair deal, then you walk away,” he said.
Trump and Johnson are known as controversial and unpredictable personalities. Many will be watching what kind of headlines the two leaders will generate in the summit over the weekend.
