It had been going so well.
Gathering in a sun-drenched spa town on the sparkling waters of Lake Geneva, the leaders of the Group of 7 put aside months of rancor to praise President Trump for his preliminary deal with Iran. They declared it a “breakthrough” that would unclog the Strait of Hormuz and could put the Middle East on a path to peace. And they got the United States to sign a remarkably unified joint statement on Ukraine, pledging “unwavering support” for Kyiv in its war against Moscow.
Then, on Wednesday, hours before the leaders were scheduled to disperse, Mr. Trump threw a few rocks in the water. The president warned that if he was dissatisfied with the final Iran deal, he could rip it up and restart the bombardment of the country. If the Iranians did not behave properly, he said, “we’ll go right back to dropping bombs right smack in the middle of their head.”
Mr. Trump’s inflammatory statements left the rest of the leaders scrambling to catch up. His outburst over Iran sowed fresh doubts about the deal’s durability, even as Mr. Trump continued to insist it was very strong. And it punctured any illusions — such as those that still exist about Mr. Trump — that European leaders could corral the president with a mixture of pomp, charm and gifts.
The last-day twist from Mr. Trump was a reminder of what can happen when his unfiltered, improvisational style collides with the diplomatic cadence and meticulous choreography of an international summit meeting.
Nothing captured the head-spinning twists more starkly than when the president, who spent much of his time in Évian selling his deal, suddenly suggested that maybe there wouldn’t be anything to sign this week after all.
“My whole life is about deals,” Mr. Trump said at a news conference at the end of the meeting. “Crazy things happen with deals.” He added that if everything went wrong, he might blame it on Vice President JD Vance.
President Emmanuel Macron of France, the host of the meeting, sought to put a good face on the outcome — mainly because the Trump administration, after more than a year of lukewarm support for Ukraine, had signed on to the joint statement pledging full backing to Kyiv. Speaking at a press briefing, he said the summit marked a pivot in Mr. Trump’s approach to Ukraine.
“President Trump has said that we must take a much harder line,” Mr. Macron said. “I really want to welcome the United States’ commitment.”
The French president was more cautious about the Iran deal, noting that key issues still had to be worked out in a subsequent negotiation and that questions remained about its details. He said a European maritime mission to secure marine traffic in the strait was ready to go, but he said it would hinge on nailing down agreements with Iran and Oman, which lie on either side of the waterway.
“Does it solve every problem? No,” Mr. Macron said of Mr. Trump’s framework deal. “Are there risks? Yes.”
G7 Summit: Live Updates
Updated
- The deal will temporarily waive sanctions on Iran’s oil industry.
- The preliminary agreement lays out provisions on nuclear talks, the Strait of Hormuz and money to rebuild Iran.
- Asked about a U.S. strike on a girls school, Trump says, ‘Nobody did that on purpose.”
Other European leaders echoed Mr. Macron’s positive mood. Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany told reporters that the statement on Ukraine was the first of its kind after a Group of 7 meeting since Mr. Trump took office. He said it sent a clear message to President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia.
“All G7 partners will increase pressure on Moscow, including through new sanctions,” Mr. Merz said. The statement, he added, “set a new tone” in trans-Atlantic relations, which have been badly frayed by disagreements over the Iran war, Mr. Trump’s threats to take over Greenland from Denmark, and his frequent attacks on centrist leaders in Europe.
By one yardstick, this summit was a success: Mr. Trump stayed until the end, which he had not done at previous Group of 7 meetings, including two hosted by Canada. That was a tribute to the resourcefulness of Mr. Macron, whose invitation to Mr. Trump to dine with him at the Palace of Versailles on Wednesday evening, in honor of the 250th anniversary of the United States, was enough to persuade him to stick around.
Asked by a French journalist if it was appropriate, given Mr. Trump’s erratic track record, for Mr. Macron to shower him with such privileges, he defended his approach as a wise use of France’s diplomatic soft power.
“You know, if I hadn’t consistently held the positions that have been mine over the last few months, you might have doubts about the balance of power, ‘for sure,’” Mr. Macron said, punching out the last phrase in English, as he did during a speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last January.
“But when it came to the security of Denmark and the Greenland issue, when it came to the territorial integrity of Ukraine and to peace and security in Europe,” Mr. Macron said. “I was never ambiguous or weak.”
With so much talk of unity by European leaders, observers dissected snippets of conversation picked up by “hot microphones” to see if the behind-the-scenes interactions revealed more divisions.
“We are friends again,” said António Costa, the president of the European Council, as he stood flanked by Mr. Trump and Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy. Ms. Meloni had been distancing herself from Mr. Trump after the outbreak of the war in Iran, which is deeply unpopular in Italy.
“We have always been friends,” Ms. Meloni insisted, smiling at Mr. Trump, according to video footage that also captured the moment.
Mr. Costa was involved in another fascinating, if inconclusive, exchange with Mr. Trump. Huddling before the start of a session, Mr. Trump turned to him and said, “You understand,” then added, “Greenland.”
No other part of the conversation was picked up by microphones. That left observers to let their imaginations run wild about Mr. Trump’s previous threats to take over Greenland, which has perhaps been the most divisive single issue between the United States and its European allies.
For all the messiness of Mr. Trump’s last day, diplomats in the United States and Europe said things could have been worse.
“Had the conflict with Iran been continuing and the Strait of Hormuz closed with no end in sight, Trump would have harangued allies over their unwillingness to get involved and they would have pressed Trump hard on his lack of a strategy,” said Charles A. Kupchan, who served on the National Security Council in the Obama administration. “Instead, the atmospherics were reasonably good.”
“Of course, Trump ruffled feathers by questioning the impact of the war in Ukraine on U.S. interests and indicating that he might have to start bombing Iran again,” said Mr. Kupchan, now a professor of international relations at Georgetown University. “But ruffling feathers is what Trump does best.”
Reporting was contributed by Zolan Kanno-Youngs, Erica L. Green and Jeanna Smialek.
The post After a Day of Harmony, a Mercurial Trump Upends Leaders’ Summit appeared first on New York Times.
