Merkel rejects Trump's invitation for G7 summit

German Chancellor Angela Merkel will not attend the G7 summit in Washington due to the coronavirus pandemic, the German Press Agency reported Saturday, citing government spokesperson Steffen Seibert.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on May 20 that he was aiming for a real G7 summit in Washington in late June as a sign of normalization after the outbreak of the pandemic.

The summit was originally scheduled for June 10-12 at the presidential retreat of Camp David, Maryland.

In March, however, the U.S. government canceled the arrangement because of the pandemic and scheduled a video conference instead.

Merkel had initially left open whether she would accept Trump's invitation to participate in a video conference.

In whatever form this meeting takes place, "whether as a video conference or otherwise, I will definitely fight for multilateralism. That is very clear, both in the G7 and the G20," the chancellor said on May 20.