MONDAY, AUGUST 26 , 2019. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ SU A
Abe “feels” that way but continued
to defend a man he calls a friend,
the dictator of North Korea.
“We’re in the world of missiles,
folks, whether you like it or not,”
Trump said. Abe said he hoped
that North Korea would not
continue the tests.
Earlier in the morning, Trump
said that allies supported his trade
fight with China, even though
other leaders have repeatedly
urged him to de-escalate tensions
with Beijing.
“I haven’t heard that at all,” he
said when asked if other G-
participants were pressuring him
to scale back his trade war with
China. “I think they respect the
trade war. It has to happen.... So,
the answer is, nobody has told me
that, and nobody would tell me
that.”
From his vantage point across
the long table, Johnson expressed
a different opinion minutes later,
even as he carefully maneuvered
not to offend Trump. “To register
the faint, sheeplike note of our
view on the trade war, we’re in
favor of trade peace on the whole,
and dialing it down if we can,”
Johnson said.
World leaders said
overwhelmingly that they opposed
Russia rejoining the summit, even
though Trump has repeatedly
pushed for the country to return.
Speaking Sunday morning, Trump
said he secured some support in a
contentious discussion at a dinner
Saturday night. “I could, but I don’t
think that’s necessary,” he said,
when asked to name who agreed
with him. No one else publicly
backed up the assertion.
The most attention Sunday was
focused on the president’s “second
thoughts,” or lack thereof.
Trump’s remarks dominated the
news Sunday, in part because they
seemed to be a rare admission of
self doubt or a mistake by Trump,
who rarely concedes any such
thing. After he recently attacked
one of his supporters at a rally for
being overweight, mistaking him
for a protester, White House aides
made clear that he called the man
to thank him for his support but
that he did not apologize.
Once Trump and team saw the
news coverage of his remarks, they
sprang into action, with Grisham
saying there were “greatly
misinterpreted” and Mnuchin and
Kudlow driving about 30 minutes
to a beachfront area, where they
defended the president in
morning TV interviews and
highlighted what they described as
an unprecedented day of success
for the president.
“I was in that meeting. There
were a lot of people yelling. I think
it was somewhat, at least I found it
somewhat hard to hear,” Mnuchin
said.
He said additional tariffs were
not being considered, even though
Grisham in her statement said the
president’s “second thoughts”
related to his desire to increase the
trade penalties. One senior
administration official, who spoke
on the condition of anonymity to
be candid, said Trump originally
did want tougher tariffs, but it was
unclear whether that’s what he
meant Sunday morning.
A reporter asked Mnuchin if he
was there to “clean up” Trump’s
comments. The treasury secretary
said that Trump had been clear
and that it wasn’t necessary.
“I think we’re not cleaning up
anything,” Mnuchin said.
[email protected]biarritz, france
— It began with a
rare admission
from President
Trump.
“I have second
thoughts about
everything,” he said, answering
repeated questions from reporters
about whether he was concerned
that his escalating trade war with
China had gone too far.
His comments, which came
during a meeting with British
Prime Minister Boris Johnson at
the Group of Seven summit here,
were initially seen as a sign Trump
was softening his approach just
two days after he ratcheted up his
rhetoric toward Beijing and said
he wanted U.S. companies to begin
pulling out of China.
In the ensuing hours,
administration officials launched
a full-throttled effort to reframe
the president’s words — and
maybe more important change the
cable TV chyrons — and try to turn
them from an admission of
vulnerability to a statement of
strength.
“The president responded in the
affirmative — because he regrets
not raising the tariffs higher,” press
secretary Stephanie Grisham said
in a statement four hours after
Trump’s initial comment, even
though he had also praised China
and said that talks were going well
during his back-and-forth with
reporters earlier in the day.
National Economic Council
Director Larry Kudlow portrayed
the comment not so much as being
misinterpreted, but as the result of
a misunderstanding over what
was being asked amid the hustle
and bustle of the press scrum.
“He didn’t quite hear the
question this morning,” Kudlow
told reporters, even though the
question was asked three times.
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin in television interviews
brushed past questions about
what specifically the president
said to declare that he was
unwavering in his commitment to
the trade war with China.
“He has no second thoughts, no
second thoughts,” Mnuchin said,
contradicting the president, who
said earlier that he did.
The fallout from Trump’s
morning remarks here were
another example of how his off-
the-cuff style of speaking,
vacillating policy positions and
desire to bend facts to his liking
can wreak havoc on an almost
daily basis even during what are
supposed to be carefully
orchestrated diplomatic events.
The president’s aides were not
the only ones who felt the need to
clarify or contradict Trump during
the G-7 summit — several fellow
leaders stepped in at times during
the day, often gently, to make clear
they were not agreeing with a
point made by Trump.
The president indicated that
North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, with
whom Trump is eager to strike a
nuclear deal, had not broken “an
agreement” by repeatedly
conducting missile tests in recent
weeks that have U.S. allies in Asia
growing nervous. Japanese Prime
Minister Shinzo Abe, sitting in the
chair beside him, said otherwise.
“Our position is very clear that
the launch of short-range ballistic
missiles by North Korea clearly
violates the relevant U.N. Security
Council resolutions,” Abe said, a
view shared by U.S. experts.
Trump said he understood why
BY MICHAEL BIRNBAUM
AND TOLUSE OLORUNNIPA
biarritz, france — Iranian For-
eign Minister Mohammad Javad
Zarif made a surprise visit to the
city hosting the Group of Seven
summit Sunday, a move that
caught President Trump off-guard
and added another element of ten-
sion to the meeting of world eco-
nomic leaders.
Zarif ’s arrival in Biarritz ap-
peared to be a covert initiative by
French President Emmanuel Ma-
cron, a senior European official
said, and at least some other lead-
ers were not informed ahead of
time.
Trump, whose antics have often
left other world leaders searching
for words, had little to say about the
unexpected guest.
“No comment,” Trump told re-
porters.
Zarif came to this resort town at
the invitation of his French coun-
terpart, Jean-Yves Le Drian, Irani-
an Foreign Ministry spokesman
Abbas Mousavi wrote on Twitter.
The aim of the visit was to “contin-
ue discussions about recent initia-
tives between the presidents of Iran
and France,” Mousavi said.
The Iranian diplomat was in
town for about five hours before
departing on his Iranian govern-
ment jet. He met with Macron, Le
Drian, and British and German
diplomats before speeding away, he
wrote in a tweet.
“Iran's active diplomacy in pur-
suit of constructive engagement
continues,” Zarif wrote after his
meetings. “Road ahead is difficult.
But worth trying.”
White House officials have com-
plained for weeks that Macron was
trying to forcefully broker talks be-
tween the Trump administration
and Iran. The U.S. president has
branded Iran a “number one terror-
ist nation.”
Trump pulled the United States
from the landmark nuclear deal
between Iran and world powers in
May 2018. The deal, negotiated by
the Obama administration, re-
stricted Iran’s nuclear capabilities
in exchange for the easing of sanc-
tions.
French officials have said
Trump’s “maximum pressure” ap-
proach against Iran is doomed to
fail. They have sought to persuade
the White House to change course
and accept a new deal with the
Iranians.
Trump’s pressure campaign has
involved a mix of sanctions and
public threats aimed at crip-
pling Iran’s economy — and, recent-
ly, new sanctions and travel restric-
tions on Zarif.
The foreign minister’s presence
in Biarritz — at the invitation of theFrench president during a summit
of world leaders who know Zarif
well — underscored how isolated
the Trump administration has be-
come in its approach to Iran.
Even as Iranian forces have
stepped up their aggression by seiz-
ing several tankers in the Strait of
Hormuz, European leaders have
sought to maintain the 2015 nu-
clear deal without the United
States. Zarif ’s visit appeared to be a
gambit to break the logjam.
An earlier discussion on Iran
during the summit showed little
progress, as leaders could not agree
publicly about even the terms of
their talks. They planned to revisit
their conversations on Monday af-
ter Zarif ’s departure, a French offi-
cial said.
Trump said Sunday he had not
discussed a joint approach to Iran.
French officials insisted a consen-
sus had been reached among lead-
ers Saturday night.
“I haven’t discussed that,” Trump
said. “We will do our own outreach,
but I can’t stop people from talking.
If they want to talk, they can talk.”
When leaders discussed Iran
over dinner on Saturday, they
agreed broadly that Iran should not
be allowed to develop nuclear
weapons and that they should work
to de-escalate the ongoing crisis,
according to officials who were
briefed on the closed-door talks.Macron pushed Trump to allow
Iran to export a limited amount of
oil — a nonstarter with the White
House.
Zarif ’s sudden arrival in Biarritz
took at least some of the other
delegations by surprise, even those
aligned with France in its commit-
ment to preserve the nuclear deal,
according to a senior European of-
ficial, who, like others in this arti-
cle, spoke on the condition of ano-
nymity because the official was not
authorized to comment publicly.
The official said it was not im-
mediately clear why Zarif had been
invited. Because Europe’s strength
on the Iran deal has been its unity,
the official said, the unilateral
move to call in Zarif could prove
counterproductive.
But a French official said Zarif
had been invited to be debriefed
about the G-7 discussions of the
previous day and so that Macron
could continue pushing an effort to
get Iran back into compliance with
the nuclear deal.
The official said Macron had told
Trump ahead of time that he
planned to invite Zarif for a discus-
sion.
Zarif was in Paris on Friday for
discussions with Macron and other
French officials. He had planned to
travel in Asia this weekend, accord-
ing to his Twitter account.
His arrival in the French resorttown appeared to take the State
Department by surprise. A spokes-
woman noted the agency’s absence
from the summit and referred
questions to the White House.
Trump is traveling in Biarritz
with national security adviser John
Bolton, one of the administration’s
fiercest critics of Iran.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo
has complained that Zarif has used
media appearances to spread Ira-
nian “propaganda” against the
United States.
Zarif criticized the Trump ad-
ministration after it pulled out of
the nuclear deal, and again after
the administration announced
sanctions against him last month.
“The US’ reason for designating
me is that I am Iran’s ‘primary
spokesperson around the world,’ ”
he tweeted in July. “Is the truth
really that painful? It has no effect
on me or my family, as I have no
property or interests outside of
Iran. Thank you for considering me
such a huge threat to your agenda.”
Zarif has been meeting with oth-
er world leaders, including Ma-
cron, about the nuclear issue. He
has tweeted pictures of himself
shaking hands with top officials
and sought to contrast his embrace
of diplomacy with the Trump ad-
ministration’s unilateral pressure
campaign.
“Despite US efforts to destroy
diplomacy, met with French Presi-
dent @EmmanuelMacron and
@JY_LeDriane in Paris today,” he
tweeted Friday. “Interviewed withEuronews, AFP, & France24. Multi-
lateralism must be preserved. Next
stops Beijing, Tokyo & KL after a
day in Tehran.”
He did not mention that he
would be stopping in Biarritz.
Treasury Secretary Steven
Mnuchin indicated Trump might
be willing to meet with Zarif.
“The president has said before
that to the extent that Iran wants to
sit down and negotiate, we would
not set preconditions to those ne-
gotiations,” he told reporters in
France on Sunday. He declined to
comment further.
But in Washington, Zarif ’s ap-
pearance drew warnings from Iran
critics.
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki
Haley called it “completely disre-
spectful” to Trump and the other
G-7 leaders. “Iran supports terror-
ism at every turn and continues to
pursue ‘Death to America,’ ” she
tweeted. “Manipulative of Macron
to do this and very insincere. #Not-
WhatFriendsDo.”
And Sen. Lindsey O. Graham
(R-S.C.) said, “Hearing that the Eu-
ropeans are negotiating with the
Iranians again is of little comfort to
me.
“Mr. President,” he continued in
his tweet, “continue to stand firm
against Iran’s aggression.”
[email protected]
[email protected]Josh Dawsey and Damian Paletta in
Biarritz, and Carol Morello in
Washington contributed to this report.Iran’s Zarif makes surprise G-7 appearance
Aides scramble to decipher
Trump’s ‘second thoughts’
The
Debrief
JOSH
DAWSEY
Choose your Eye + Moisturizing Duo
Choose your Makeup Look
Choose your Cosmetics Bag
Yours with any $39.50+ Lancôme purchase, a $158 value.
LANCÔME
FREE GIFT
EXCLUSIVELY OURS
FOR THE LORD + TAYLOR NEAREST YOU, VISIT LOCATIONS.LORDANDTAYLOR.COM OR CALL 1-800-223-One gift per customer, please; available through Wednesday, September 18 or while supplies last. *NOT VALID ON: All Chanel, Dyson, Trish McEvoy; beauty salons + spas.
Not valid on prior purchases or as account payment. Bonus discount will be applied before any other coupon offer. One bonus offer per transaction. Refunds/Credits determined
based on sales check price, which lists pro-rata card savings per item. Not valid at Lakeside Mall, Lake Forest Mall, stand-alone Auburn Hills Lord + Taylor Outlet or Paramus
FIND@Lord+Taylor stores. All employee discount recipients are not eligible. Cannot combine with Bonus offers. Online and in-store exclusions may vary.PLUS, A SPECIAL TREAT
Valid Tomorrow, August 27 – Monday, September 2 In Store or Online
Shopping online? Enter code BEAUTY at checkout to receive $20 discount.OFF A BEAUTY OR FRAGRANCE
PURCHASE OF $100 OR MORE$ *
20Home delivery makes good sense. 1-800-753-POST washingtonpost.com/subscribe
SF