President Donald Trump didn't talk to other world leaders before inviting them to participate in June's G7 Summit in person via Twitter earlier this week, BuzzFeed News reports.
Senior officials from two governments participating in the summit told BuzzFeed News they were not consulted about the possibility of holding the meeting in person. And not all leaders are on board with the idea.
It is an “awkward proposition to deal with,” one of the government officials told BuzzFeed News.
The other official said that privately, “the initial reception to the idea among Europeans had been cold — but they cannot immediately reject it.”
“Now that our Country is ‘Transitioning back to Greatness’, I am considering rescheduling the G-7, on the same or similar date, in Washington, D.C., at the legendary Camp David,” Trump tweeted Wednesday. “The other members are also beginning their COMEBACK. It would be a great sign to all — normalization!”
The G7 brings together the leaders of the U.S., Germany, France, Italy, the UK, Japan and Canada. This year, the U.S. is the hosting country.
After his tweet, Trump told reporters that the gathering would "primarily" take place at the White House and "there could be a piece of it at Camp David."
The summit was originally scheduled to take place at Camp David and then moved to a virtual setting amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Most countries are still dealing with lockdown measures and travel bans. Many international planes are still grounded.
While the leaders may not agree with the optics of traveling during the coronavirus outbreak, they have kept an open mind publicly. Most have said they would make the trip if health measures were put in place to keep everyone safe.
A French official told Reuters that President Emmanuel Macron was open to traveling to the U.S. for the meeting if the COVID-19 situation allows.
“We’ll certainly take a look at what the U.S. is proposing as host of the G7 to see what kind of measures will be in place to keep people safe,” Canada's prime minister Justin Trudeau told reporters.
The U.K. said it, too, would consider the trip to the U.S. At a daily briefing this week, the Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "In the event of any travel, the PM would follow the guidelines at the time.”
"We are in close contact with the U.S. in the run-up to the summit," the spokesman added. "We will need to look at the details of what the U.S. are proposing.”
Preparatory meetings for the summit have been held over video conference.
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