Tag: G-20 summit

Here’s why Ivanka Trump’s role at the G-20 summit was so unsettling. And it wasn’t just about nepotism.

Washington Post logoThis weekend, Ivanka Trump — prized first daughter, presidential sounding board, sometime diplomat — managed to ignite the rage of the Internet by just doing her job.

Wait, what job is that exactly? Officially, the 37-year-old is a senior adviser to the president, who happens to be her dear old dad, Donald J. Trump. In practice, she seems to have unlimited responsibilities. And her “Where’s Waldo?” appearance at the 2019 G-20 summit in Japan — there she is smizing with Shinzo Abe! holding her own with Theresa May! saying stuff in front of Christine Lagarde! — was further evidence of just how far her sphere extends.

The nature of Ivanka’s job would be enough, in a normal profession, to drive an HR manager to tears. It’s not simply that she got her role through nepotism, explains Jennifer Lawless, professor of politics at the University of Virginia. It’s the fact that she now seems to have so much power with zero accountability: “She’s not secretary of state, but she’s acting like she has the same clout as Mike Pompeo. She is not a formal diplomat, but she’s the one having formal conversations.”

View the complete July 3 column by Helena Andrews-Dyer on The Washington Post website here.

Why Ivanka Trump didn’t belong anywhere near the DMZ or the G-20 summit

Washington Post logoWho benefits most from her government role — the American people or her family?

Since President Trump took office, the White House has been pushing the boundaries of what the American public will tolerate in terms of family involvement in presidential decision-making, intermingling of official government business with Trump’s private businesses and development of foreign policy strategy. (After all, the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, just released a Middle East peace plan.) But even by Trump’s low standards, this past week broke new ground.

The president put forth his daughter Ivanka as a stand-in for actual diplomats and government officials at several high-level meetings and interactions with world leaders at the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, and at meetings in South Korea and the demilitarized zone on the North Korea-South Korea border. Ivanka Trump was by the president’s side for his visit to the DMZ, while his national security adviser, John Bolton, was dispatched to Mongolia. A video showed her apparently trying to join a conversation among French President Emmanuel Macron, outgoing British Prime Minister Theresa May and International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde in an encounter that looked as though she thought she was at a Hamptons cocktail party. The first daughter was later introduced alongside Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during a visit with U.S. troops in South Korea.

This ascension of family-directed foreign affairs is an unhealthy development for our democracy. And Ivanka Trump ought to back off: Americans didn’t elect her, we don’t have any way of holding her accountable and we don’t support her playacting at government.

View the complete July 2 article by Carrie Cordero on The Washington Post website here.

In Japan, Trump appears to make light of Russian election interference during meeting with Putin

Washington Post logoPresident Trump met with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit in Osaka, Japan, and appeared to make light of Moscow’s election interference. Here are the highlights:

  • “Don’t meddle in the election,” a grinning Trump told Putin in response to reporters’ questions.
  • Trump and Putin also appeared to briefly discuss their mutual dislike of the news media with Trump saying “Fake news is a great term, isn’t it.”
  • Russian state media said Trump “responded very positively” to an invitation from Putin to visit Moscow next year.
  • Other leaders at the summit, notably British Prime Minister Theresa May, took a tougher stand against Putin, citing Russia’s “destabilizing” behavior.

OSAKA, Japan — President Trump on Friday appeared to make light of Russian election interference, telling President Vladi­mir Putin with a grin during a bilateral meeting, “Don’t meddle in the election,” after reporters shouted questions about the topic.

View the complete June 28 article by David Nakamura, Seung Min Kim and Damian Paletta on The Washington Post website here.

Five things to watch as Trump heads to G-20 in Japan

The Hill logoPresident Trump departs Wednesday for Japan, where he will meet with other world leaders at the Group of 20 (G-20) summit in Osaka.

The confab comes at a time when Trump is juggling several foreign policy challenges. He is simultaneously seeking a trade deal with China, corresponding with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un amid a stalled push for denuclearization and facing the specter of a conflict with Iran. Each topic is sure to come up during the two-day summit.

Trump will meet formally with the heads of state of Australia, Japan, India, Germany, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and China.

View the complete June 26 article by Brett Samuels on The Hill logo here.

Trump ready for tariff truce with China

The U.S. and China have tentatively agreed to another truce in their trade war in order to resume talks aimed at resolving the dispute, sources familiar with the situation said.

Details of the agreement are being laid out in press releases in advance of the meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and President Donald Trump at the Group of 20 Leaders Summit in Osaka, Japan, this weekend, three sources — one in Beijing and two others in Washington — said.

Such an agreement would avert the next round of tariffs on an additional $300 billion of Chinese imports, which would extend punitive tariffs to virtually all of the country’s shipments to the U.S. The Trump administration has threatened to slap duties of up to 25 percent on the remaining untaxed Chinese goods if this weekend’s talks go poorly.

View the complete June 26 article by Doug Palmer, Wendy Wu, Mark Magnier and Owen Churchill from The South China Morning Post here.

‘None of your business!’ Trump lashes out when reporter asks him about meeting with Putin

AlterNet logoWhile leaving for his trip to Japan on Wednesday, President Donald Trump stopped to speak with the press on the South Lawn of the White House, where one reporter asked a question that clearly struck a nerve.

Sarah Westwood, a reporter for CNN, asked Trump whether he planned on telling Russian President Vladimir Putin at their upcoming meeting not to interfere in the 2016 election.

While leaving for his trip to Japan on Wednesday, President Donald Trump stopped to speak with the press on the South Lawn of the White House, where one reporter asked a question that clearly struck a nerve.

Sarah Westwood, a reporter for CNN, asked Trump whether he planned on telling Russian President Vladimir Putin at their upcoming meeting not to interfere in the 2016 election.

View the complete June 26 article by Cody Fenwick on the AlterNet website here.

‘Now comes the reckoning’: Trump arrives at global gathering with most of his foreign policy gambits hanging in the balance

Washington Post logoPresident Trump arrives in Japan on Thursday for a two-day gathering of global leaders with his biggest foreign policy initiatives in the balance and time running out to score a major breakthrough as he prepares to make the case for reelection.

The president is slated to meet at the Group of 20 summit in Osaka with key allies and adversaries — including China’s Xi Jinping, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Japan’s Shinzo Abe, Saudi Arabia’s Mohammed bin Salman and India’s Narendra Modi — as he seeks to clinch an elusive trade pact with Beijing, consolidate international support in a tense staredown with Tehran and navigate a path forward on stalled nuclear talks with North Korea.

The complex panoply of issues has threatened to destabilize the global economy and potentially plunge the United States into another military conflagration in the Middle East. Though Trump has projected confidence, his tactics have set foreign capitals on edge, with fellow leaders uncertain in which direction the mercurial and impulsive president intends to head next.

View the complete June 25 article by David Nakamura and Damian Paletta on The Washington Post website here.

Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit

The following article by Karen DeYoung and Philip Rucker was posted on the Washington Post website July 18, 2017:

After his much-publicized two-and-a-quarter-hour meeting early this month with Russian President Vladi­mir Putin at the Group of 20 summit in Germany, President Trump chatted informally with the Russian leader for up to an additional hour later the same day.

The second meeting, undisclosed at the time, took place at a dinner for G-20 leaders, a senior administration official said. At some point during the meal, Trump left his own seat to occupy a chair next to Putin. Trump approached alone, and Putin was attended only by his official interpreter. Continue reading “Trump had undisclosed hour-long meeting with Putin at G-20 summit”