President Trump’s incredibly shrinking G-20 schedule
BUENOS AIRES — Aides boasted this week that President Trump’s plans for the G-20 plans were so packed with back-to-back bilateral meetings with world leaders that the trip was “full to overflowing.”
But before the president even touched down here Thursday, the schedule was drying up.
A highly anticipated sit-down with Russian President Vladimir Putin was scrapped by Trump minutes after Air Force One took off for Argentina, citing regional tensions with Ukraine.
Two formal meetings with South Korean President Moon Jae-in and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were reduced to pull-asides.
And a travel snafu for German Chancellor Angela Merkel cast doubt on whether she would make it in time for a private meeting with the president.
Originally, Trump was set to meet with about half of the attendees at the G-20. The sudden change raises questions about what could be added to the trip.
There are no current plans for Trump to have extended talks with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in the next few days but a brief interaction is all but inevitable.
The same is true for a potential handshake or chat with Putin, which is common at these kind of events.
Still, the absence of these two critical meetings — one unplanned and one now canceled — is certain to dominate headlines at the global conference.
Trump, often left isolated on the world stage after spurning his counterparts with an “America first” mentality, will have to confront the gaping holes in the schedule.
First Lady Melania Trump, who has skipped some high-level hob-knobs in the past, has her own program in the Argentine capital and may end up just as busy as her husband.
Less than an hour before abruptly canceling the meeting with Putin, Trump argued it was a “good time” for the two leaders to come together. This comes after the president’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about his involvement with the a potential Trump Tower project in Moscow during the 2016 election.
Separately, the president said he would be willing to meet with the Saudi crown prince here in Buenos Aires and claimed the only reason preventing that was logistical.
“It only wasn't set up. I mean, I would have met with him but we didn't set that one up,” Trump told reporters before leaving Washington Thursday.
The president has scuttled high stakes meetings in the past, including the historic Singapore summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. That, of course, ultimately proceeded as planned.
The meetings still on Trump’s schedule include a face-to-face with Argentinian President Mauricio Macri, a signing ceremony for USMCA with Canadian and Mexican officials, a sit-down with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a working dinner with Chinese President Xi Jinping.