President Donald Trump defended on Tuesday the idea of including Russia in the G-7 summit of world leaders, restoring it to the G-8 summit.
“It should be the G-8 because the things we talk about have to do with Russia,” Trump said to reporters.
The president spoke to reporters in the Oval Office during a meeting with Romanian President Klaus Iohannis at the White House.
Russia was booted from the G-8 Summit in 2014 with support from President Barack Obama after Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine.
“I guess President Obama, because Putin outsmarted him, President Obama didn’t think it was a good thing to have Russia in,” Trump recalled.
He said he would support the idea of adding Russia back into the summit, a position he also voiced in 2018.
Russia should be in this meeting. Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?” Trump asked in June 2018. “They threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in, should have Russia at the negotiating table.”
The next G7 summit will be held in France on August 24–26, 2019.
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