President Trump concludes whirlwind overseas tour
Before President Trump boards Air Force One on Saturday, he is concluding his whirlwind eight-day trip overseas at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Taormina, Italy.
His agenda includes discussions on emerging markets and global issues, specifically migration, food security and gender. He will be seated between the leaders of Niger and Tunisia, according to White House economic adviser Gary Cohn.
Trump tweeted Saturday morning, "Big G7 meetings today. Lots of very important matters under discussion. First on the list, of course, is terrorism. #G7Taormina."
The president then tweeted, "Many NATO countries have agreed to step up payments considerably, as they should. Money is beginning to pour in- NATO will be much stronger." This tweet comes after Trump lectured member countries on payments at NATO Headquarters on Thursday, where he said that 2 percent GDP is the minimum in terms of necessary contributions from each nation.
Trump's third and final session at the summit will be a closed meeting with seven heads of state.
The annual event brings together the leaders of the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Japan, Italy and Canada to discuss and promote solutions for major world issues.
On Friday Trump sat down with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to discuss North Korea, among other issues.
"It's a big problem, it's a world problem," the president said. "It will be solved at some point. It will be solved, you can bet on that."
Just before departing for Washington, D.C., Trump will speak to American and allied servicemen and their families, recapping highlights and accomplishments of the trip.
Trump took to Twitter Friday to say that the trip has been "very successful" and that the United States has made and saved "billions of dollars and millions of jobs."
"Any improvement on trade would save untold numbers of jobs. Stopping even one bad trade deal can save millions. Changing the infrastructure of global trade to tilt it back toward the U.S. would save and create millions, easily," a White House official said, explaining the president's tweet. "This is of course in addition to all of the jobs from the deals made in Saudi Arabia."
