United States President Donald Trump on Friday said that Russia should be part of the Group of Seven countries, reported Reuters. Russia was expelled in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.
The group, which includes the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom, were known as the G8 until Russia was expelled.
“I have been Russia’s worst nightmare,” Trump said. “But with that being said, Russia should be in this meeting,” he said before leaving for the G7 Summit on Saturday in Canada’s Quebec, reported Politico.
Trump said, “They should let Russia come back in because we should have Russia at the negotiating table”, according to Politico.
Responding to the US president’s remarks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitriy Peskov said Russia was now focused on other formats of international cooperation, news agency Sputnik International reported.
Leaders of other countries in the G7 are likely to pressurise Trump to lift hefty tariffs on steel and aluminium imports which he had imposed on key allies – the European Union, Canada and Mexico. However, Trump showed no signs of considering a compromise on Friday. The US president tweeted that he was “looking forward to straightening out unfair trade deals with the G7 countries”.
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