Trump vexes allies as he calls for Russia to rejoin G-7 The statement comes as Trump was already feuding with Macron and Trudeau ahead of the world leader meeting in Canada. President Donald Trump on Friday called for Russia to be reinstated into the group of the world’s largest economies, drawing the ire of both Democratic and Republican lawmakers and further inflaming tensions at the G-7 meeting in Canada. Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?” 
 
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 Trump made the remarks on the White House South Lawn as he left for the G-7 summit in Quebec, which he will depart from early in order to travel to Singapore, where he is scheduled to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un next week. On Thursday, Trump engaged in a bitter back-and-forth with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over Twitter, both of whom he'll meet face-to-face on Friday. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta) (Associated Press) 
 
 WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on President Donald Trump and the annual Group of Seven meeting of industrialized nations (all times local): 
 
 8:30 a.m. 
 
 President Donald Trump is calling for Russia to be reinstated to the leading group of industrialized nations, now known as the Group of Seven. "They should let Russia come back in, because we should have Russia at the negotiating table." Trump's suggestion that Russia be brought back into the exclusive club of industrialized nations earned at least one endorsement Friday — that of Italy's new, right-wing prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, who wrote on Twitter that he agreed with the U.S. president. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Trump was turning US foreign policy "into an international joke, doing lasting damage to our country." They stressed the need for respectful dialogue but say they will push back against new U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, as they have on other issues. Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, also a member of the Armed Services Committee, said in a statement, "Putin is not our friend and he is not the President's buddy. "He is a thug using Soviet-style aggression to wage a shadow war against America, and our leaders should act like it." Asked in an interview earlier this week about what would need to happen for Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Austria's ORF broadcasting corporation that "there are no such conditions and there can never be." Nothing he has done since then has changed that most obvious fact," McCain said. “The President has inexplicably shown our adversaries the deference and esteem that should be reserved for our closest allies.” 
 
 Trump’s support for Russia’s reentry into the group of leading economies adds to the lengthy list of warm gestures he has offered for the Kremlin and its leader, President Vladimir Putin. Following their joint meeting at the summit, Macron said he and Trump had a “very direct discussion.“ But both of the leaders‘ description of their chat were devoid of the escalating rhetoric they had exchanged in the days and hours leading up the summit. Trump tweets that the talks "will mostly center on the long time unfair trade practiced against the United States." Trump showed no signs of budging on his trade policies Friday, tweeting: "Looking forward to straightening out unfair Trade Deals with the G-7 countries. Trump tells reporters: "Russia should be in the meeting, should be a part of it."
– President Trump is calling for Russia to be reinstated to the leading group of industrialized nations, now known as the Group of Seven, the AP reports. "Now, I love our country. I have been Russia's worst nightmare," Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House Friday morning as he prepared to leave for the G7 summit in Canada, per Politico. "But with that being said, Russia should be in this meeting. Why are we having a meeting without Russia being in the meeting?" He added: "Whether you like it or not, and it may not be politically correct, but we have a world to run. And in the G7, which used to be the G8, they threw Russia out. They should let Russia come back in. Because we should have Russia at the negotiating table." Russia was ousted from the elite group in 2014 as punishment for President Vladimir Putin's annexation of Crimea and its support for pro-Russian separatists in Ukraine. The suspension was supported by the other members of the group: the US, Canada, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, and the UK. CNN notes Trump's remarks come after a public Twitter battle Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau over new tariffs the US has hit its allies with for "national security" purposes.