In a surprising development, it looks like US President Donald Trump will be arriving in Singapore ahead of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, just a couple of days before the summit itself on June 12.
In what seems to be a last-minute change of plans, the US president will be ditching a meeting about climate change with other world leaders (shocker!) and depart for Singapore directly, according to White House press secretary Sarah Sanders. Due to leave the G7 summit site in Quebec several hours early on Saturday morning, the man is expected to touch down here on Sunday night.
WH: Pres Trump will leave G7 Summit on Saturday morning instead of the afternoon. He’ll be skipping a Leaders session on Climate Change and a working lunch. @POTUS knows he’ll be hearing complaints about his tariffs. He’ll be departing for Singapore and Kim Jong-un Summit Tues.
— Mark Knoller (@markknoller) June 8, 2018
Trump was supposed to attend two days of meetings at the G7 (Group of Seven) summit, which kicks off today. The summit comprises an informal bloc of seven of the world’s most powerful economies — the US, Japan, Germany, France, the UK, Italy, and Canada — who get together yearly to discuss how they can work together on global issues. Generally, the countries sign a joint statement at the end of the summit laying out policies and initiatives to collaborate on.
But just a day before the summit, Trump lashed out at French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, accusing them of maintaining huge tariffs on the US, according to Financial Times. It was in response to the two leaders’ vocal indignation over Trump’s own imposition of sweeping tariffs of steel and aluminum on close allies — apparently on grounds of “national security,” The Guardian reported.
So it’s perhaps not surprising that Trump doesn’t seem to want to linger that long. The Washington Post reported that Trump apparently told advisers that he doesn’t want to be “lectured” by other world leaders, especially with the landmark Singapore summit in the horizon.
SNUB: In the latest bitter back-and-forth with G7 allies, @realDonaldTrump will skip most of day 2 of the summit, leaving early on Saturday for his meeting with Kim Jong Un in Singapore, according to statement from @PressSec
— Michael D. Shear (@shearm) June 8, 2018
According to Sanders, the Trump will depart the G7 Summit at 10:30am on Saturday. With the flight time from Canada to Singapore being about 17 hours, Air Force One should be expected to land at Paya Lebar Airbase on Sunday night. From the military airbase, Trump is expected to head over to his likely accommodations at the Shangri-La Hotel, where security has already been ramped up and prepped for his arrival. Perhaps he’ll even have time to try out the Trump-Kim Chi Nasi Lemak special.
It’s unclear when his North Korean counterpart will arrive in town, but it’s likely that Kim will stay just a nine-minute walk away at The St. Regis.
