President Donald Trump claimed Monday that the Russia-Ukraine war could have been avoided if Moscow was still a part of the G7 forum.
Trump called Russia’s 2014 expulsion from the group a grave mistake and suggested that Putin would not have invaded Ukraine had Trump been in the White House four years ago.
“If I were president, this war would have never happened,” Trump said during a bilateral meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on Monday.
Heads of state from the seven allied members of the G7 summit are congregating in Alberta, Canada this week for their annual meeting on geopolitical and economic affairs.
The group is made up of the U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
In his meeting with Carney, Trump argued that the conflict between Russia and Ukraine could have been averted entirely if Russia had not been ousted from the group after annexing Crimea in 2014.
“I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in,” Trump said.
The president maintained that resolving the ongoing conflict would be easier if Putin was still participating in G7 talks.
“You spend so much time talking about Russia and he’s no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated,” Trump said.
Trump put blame on former President Barack Obama and former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for leading the efforts to axe Russia from the group over 10 years ago. Trump criticized these two leaders and sided with Putin, saying that Moscow no longer engages in diplomatic conversations with the powerful members of the G7 because of this move.
“Putin speaks to me, [but] he doesn’t speak to anybody else because he was very insulted when he got thrown out of the G8, as I would be,” Trump said.
When asked by reporters if he’s open to adding China to the G7 membership, Trump said “it’s not a bad idea.”
The president also signaled Monday that Iran is willing to de-escalate its aggressions toward Israel. Trump said a nuclear deal with Tehran is still “achievable” but expressed frustration that the Iranians nixed the agreement he offered two weeks ago.
“They’d like to talk, but they should have done that before,” Trump said.
Trump doubled down on U.S. support for Israel and warned Iran of what further aggression against America’s ally might bring.
“Iran is not winning this war,” Trump said. “They should talk immediately before it’s too late.”
