Trump, France’s Macron discuss G-7 ahead of annual meeting

President Trump spoke by phone with French President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday to discuss the upcoming Group of Seven summit of the world’s largest developed economies.

“The President looks forward to participating in productive meetings with world leaders in Biarritz, France, in the coming days,” White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement Wednesday.

Trump is due to leave Washington to attend the meeting over the weekend. Trump’s call with Macron came the same day that he renewed support for Russia rejoining the meeting of major economies, arguing it would be appropriate to include Russia “because a lot of the things we talk about have to do with Russia.”{mosads}

“So I could certainly see it being the G-8 again,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday afternoon. “And if somebody would make that motion, I would certainly be disposed to think about it very favorably.”

Russia was ousted from the annual meeting over Moscow’s annexation of Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014 and its continued support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine.

Macron, meanwhile, met with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday and said at a news conference alongside him that Russia’s reinstatement would be contingent on Moscow helping end the conflict in Ukraine.

Trump on Tuesday did not make mention of Russia’s intervention in Ukraine and asserted that then-President Obama ousted Russia from the meeting because Russian President Vladimir Putin had “outsmarted” him.

“President Obama didn’t want Russia in because he got outsmarted. Well, that’s not the way it really should work,” Trump said.