“I’m in charge,” Trump tells G7 leaders

The G7 meeting of leading nations in France is being presided over by French President Emmanuel Macron as the host nation, but on Wednesday, his guest Donald Trump, the US president, made clear who he thought should be the boss.

“I’m the boss!” Trump declared as he walked into the morning meeting of the final day of the three-day G7 meeting, where the rest of the leaders were already seated.

Laughter could be heard around the room as Macron seemed to take it all in stride. “How are you?” Macron said to him.

“I’m doing great, thanks,” Trump, who was a billionaire businessman before assuming office, who famously hosted the show “The Apprentice” with its slogan “You’re fired!” answered as he finally sat down.

Having just won an agreement to end his country’s conflict with Iran, and having marked his 80th birthday, the presence of Trump has overshadowed the G7 meeting held in Evian on Lake Geneva.

The French authorities can rest easy knowing that the erratic US president has stayed the whole time at the conference and even signed up for the G7 communiqué, unlike last year’s conference in Canada when he left prematurely.

As an act of good faith, Macron has actually invited Trump to have dinner with him at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris following the conclusion of the conference on Wednesday.

Macron, who feels obligated not to appear too much like a sycophant to Trump, has already stated that the Versailles dinner would not be a gala one.

AFP