August 11, 2020 - 12:50 AMT
Trump postpones G7 summit until after presidential election

U.S. President Donald Trump said he has asked that the G7 meeting be postponed until after the U.S. presidential election in November, after a previous delay due to Covid-19 concerns, CNN reports.

“I’m much more inclined to do it sometime after the election,” Trump told reporters at the briefing. “We were going to do it in September.”

The summit was slated to be held at Camp David in June, and after a tentative plan to postpone the meeting and switch to a virtual conference, Trump had floated in May the idea of doing it in person in the fall.

Trump said the White House had not yet formally invited leaders.

“We haven’t sent out invitations. We’re talking to them,” he said. He noted he planned on inviting countries that aren’t formal members of the group of seven.

Asked whether he would invite Russian President Vladimir Putin, Trump said he would do so because Putin is an “important factor.”

“I certainly would invite him to the meeting. I think he’s an important factor.”