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THE WORLD

BIARRITZ, France —
President Trump arrived
here on Saturday for three
days of meetings with world
leaders at a Group of 7 econ-
omic summit that was al-
ready turning contentious
even on a largely ceremonial
first day.
Each of the leaders at the
annual summit of the
world’s seven largest indus-
trialized economies is facing
domestic turmoil and brings
low expectations about col-
lectively tackling major
global challenges, from cli-
mate change to slowing
economies.
The challenge other lead-
ers seemed most focused on
was the president of the
United States.
Trump added fresh tur-
moil Friday when he de-
manded U.S. companies
stop doing business in
China, and said he would
raise tariffs on Chinese
imports as high as 30% in re-
sponse to Beijing’s decision
to place added tariffs on U.S.
goods. It marked yet anoth-
er incendiary escalation in a
trade war that has rattled in-
vestors, worried central
bankers and clouded the
global economy.
Looking to present a
united front and to set an
agenda broader and more
unifying than trade, the
summit’s host, French Presi-
dent Emmanuel Macron,
surprised Trump at the opu-
lent Hotel du Palais with a
private lunch on the patio.
Although some White
House officials grumbled
about Macron’s unexpected
invite, both leaders spoke
optimistically afterward

about potential for progress

at the three-day summit.

“This will be very impor-

tant,” Macron said. “We will

be allies, friends.”

Trump responded in

kind: “So far, so good,” he

said. “The weather is fantas-

tic. Everybody’s getting

along. I think we will accom-

plish a lot this weekend.”

The warm words didn’t

fully defuse the tension.

Shortly before Air Force

One touched down in

France, European Council

President Donald Tusk

bluntly described the dis-

agreements separating the

European Union from the

U.S. on several matters, in-

cluding the escalating trade

war with China.

“Trade wars will lead to

recessions” and “trade wars

among G-7 members will

lead to an eroding of the al-

ready weakened trust

among us,” Tusk said at a

news conference.

He also criticized Trump

for withdrawing the U.S.

from the Iran nuclear deal,

which he said “hasn’t

brought about any positive

results.”

And he responded to an-

other provocation from

Trump, who stopped to

speak to reporters late Fri-

day as he departed the

White House, promising to

impose taxes on French

wine “like you’ve never seen

before” in response to a pos-

sible French tax aimed at

large U.S. technology com-

panies.

Macron on Saturday

called for an end to the trade

wars that he said are “taking

hold everywhere” and urged

world leaders here to focus

on helping Brazil and other

South American countries

fight the fires currently

burning in the Amazon,

whose vast, carbon-absorb-

ing rainforests help counter-

act global warming.

Conservationists have

blamed the fires on Brazil-

ian President Jair Bol-

sonaro, who has encouraged

loggers and farmers to clear

the land. Bolsonaro com-

plained that calls from Mac-

ron and other G-7 leaders to

address the fires in Brazil’s

rainforests reflect “a mis-

placed colonialist mindset.”

Trump tweeted prior to

leaving Washington that

he’d just spoken to Bol-

sonaro. “Our future Trade

prospects are very exciting

and our relationship is

strong, perhaps stronger

than ever before,” Trump

tweeted. “I told him if the

United States can help with

the Amazon Rainforest

fires, we stand ready to as-

sist!”

In Bayonne, a town out-

side Biarritz, police fired

tear gas, water cannons and

dispersion grenades on a

crowd of about 400 anti-

capitalist demonstrators.

Authorities detained 68 of

them for allegedly throwing

projectiles, concealing their

faces or possessing objects

that could be used as weap-

ons.

Macron has already said

that the G-7 leaders prob-

ably won’t issue their tradi-

tional formal communique,

usually a quickly forgotten

record of shared values and

joint promises, when the

summit wraps up on Mon-

day, given Trump’s startling

behavior last year.

Hours after last year’s

G-7 in Quebec, Canada, had

adjourned in June, Trump

demanded that his signa-

ture be removed from the

perfunctory communique

because he felt the host, Ca-

nadian Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau, had disre-

spected him during a post-

summit news conference.

This year, Trump picked

a fight with Denmark, a

longtime U.S. ally and mem-

ber of NATO, before heading

to the G-7. After the prime

minister rejected his idea

that the U.S. buy the Danish

territory of Greenland as

“absurd,” he abruptly can-

celed a planned state visit to

Copenhagen and later called

her remarks “nasty.”

He also rattled the nerves

of G-7 counterparts by sug-

gesting last week that Rus-

sia, which was expelled from

the group in 2014 after it sent

troops into Ukraine and

seized Crimea, should be re-

instated even though it con-

tinues the occupation.

“Under no condition can

we agree on this logic,” Tusk

said Saturday, adding that

he’d prefer to see Ukraine in-

vited to a G-7 summit rather

than Russia.

Given Trump’s record as

a global outlier on issues of

trade, climate change and

confronting Iran, and his

propensity for derailing in-

ternational confabs with

threats and occasionally bel-

licose rhetoric, diplomats

here hope to make any prog-

ress on the margins in ses-

sions in the picturesque sea-

side town on France’s

Basque coast.

Formal talks began Sat-

urday evening with a wel-

come dinner at the Biarritz

lighthouse overlooking the

main beach. Trump, who

prefers one-on-one interac-

tions with leaders to large

gatherings, is scheduled to

hold private meetings with

most of his counterparts

on Sunday and early Mon-

day.

In probably the most

closely watched encounter,

Trump will sit down for

breakfast Sunday with new

British Prime Minister Boris

Johnson, who is committed

to taking the United King-

dom out of the European

Union by the end of October,

a fraught process that al-

ready has brought down two

British governments.

Trump avidly supports

Brexit, but Johnson may not

welcome Trump’s embrace,

given the president’s unpop-

ularity in London and much

of Europe, although the two

leaders have been in fre-

quent contact by phone in

recent days.

Johnson met this week

with Macron and German

Chancellor Angela Merkel in

a push to negotiate an exit

deal from the 28-nation bloc

before the deadline.

Trump is scheduled to

hold a news conference on

Monday before he returns to

Washington.

As the G-7 braces for disruption, it arrives

Main challenge for

other leaders seems

to be the mercurial

U.S. president.

By Eli Stokols

PRESIDENT TRUMPand wife Melania arrive Saturday in Biarritz, France, for

the G-7 summit, which turned contentious even on the ceremonial first day.

Julien de RosaEPA/Shutterstock

European Council

President Donald

Tusk bluntly

described key

issues separating

the EU from the

U.S., including

Russia, Iran and

the growing trade

war with China.