Macron messaged Trump offering G7 meeting in Paris

W460

French President Emmanuel Macron has sent his U.S. counterpart a message offering to host a G7 summit and invite Russia on the sidelines, the French leader's entourage confirmed on Tuesday.

Macron also proposes inviting Ukraine to the meeting in Paris on Thursday, as well as Denmark to discuss European-U.S. disagreements over Greenland.

U.S. President Donald Trump posted the French leader's "private message" on his Truth Social network earlier on Tuesday.

European countries are weighing countermeasures after Trump threatened to impose tariffs on eight of them in an attempt to pressure the European Union over Greenland.

"My friend, we are totally in line on Syria. We can do great things on Iran. I do not understand what you are doing on Greenland," Macron said in his message.

Trump is demanding to seize the Arctic island, a sovereign territory of Denmark, from its Nordic NATO ally.

"I can set up a G7 meeting after Davos in Paris on Thursday afternoon," Macron wrote, referring to this week's gathering of global elites in Switzerland.

"I can invite the Ukrainians, the Danish, the Syrians and the Russians in the margins" of the meeting, he added.

The G7 comprises Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. The 27-nation EU also participates.

Asked by AFP whether Russia had received any invitation for the proposed meeting, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov replied: "No, it has not."

Trump's relations with Macron hit a new low on Monday when the U.S. president threatened 200-percent tariffs on French wine over France's intention to decline an invitation to join his "Board of Peace".

"Tariff threats to influence our foreign policy are unacceptable and ineffective," a source close to Macron told AFP on Tuesday.

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