{"id":111009,"date":"2026-06-18T08:14:14","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:14:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/111009\/"},"modified":"2026-06-18T08:14:14","modified_gmt":"2026-06-18T08:14:14","slug":"hot-mics-at-g7-capture-world-leaders-chats-between-weighty-topics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/111009\/","title":{"rendered":"Hot mics at G7 capture world leaders’ chats between weighty topics"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you’ve ever wondered what the leaders of the world’s richest democracies talk about on the sidelines of the G7 summit, well, here’s a rough idea.<\/p>\n

Sports. Cigarettes. The weather. And something about Greenland.<\/p>\n

As world leaders made their way into conference rooms at a lakeside resort in \u00c9vian-les-Bains, microphones caught plenty of off-the-cuff banter.<\/p>\n

It turns out away from conversations about how to tackle some of the world’s biggest problems<\/a>, the group discusses much lighter topics, from giving up smoking to who’s really the boss.<\/p>\n

Here’s what the mics picked up.<\/p>\n

‘I’m the boss’<\/p>\n

US President Donald Trump strode in late on the final day of talks, and as he walked into the room, he proclaimed, “I’m the boss,” to his counterparts seated around a large oval conference table.<\/p>\n

\"donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump earned a few laughs during the summit. (AP: Christian Hartmann\/Pool)<\/p>\n

The group was waiting to start a discussion about concerns that China is flooding export markets with subsidised products.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump’s comments earned him a laugh from the leaders, prompting a wry smile.<\/p>\n

That wasn’t the only laugh the US president picked up during the summit.<\/p>\n

After French President Emmanuel Macron left his watch behind when he departed the group’s working lunch on Tuesday, Mr Trump showed more of his comedic side.<\/p>\n

G7 leaders could stand up to Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

In France, the US president finds himself among a group of emboldened counterparts, many of whom now seem more comfortable criticising him publicly than ever before.<\/p>\n

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney drew attention to the watch, saying: “He’s [Macron] left his watch here. We’ve got his watch.”<\/p>\n

In response, Mr Trump said, “Give me it. If he left, gimme,” drawing more laughs from the group.<\/p>\n

Trump brings up Greenland<\/p>\n

Staying on Mr Trump once again. This time, the US president was caught on a microphone talking with European Council President Ant\u00f3nio Costa.<\/p>\n

“You understand?” he said before pausing and looking squarely at Mr Costa.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump spoke to European Council President Antonio Costa about Greenland. (AP: Christian Hartmann\/Pool)<\/p>\n

“Greenland,” he said. Unfortunately, the start and end of the conversation were unclear.<\/p>\n

European politicians have been outraged by Mr Trump’s threats to acquire Greenland, a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.<\/p>\n

Italian leader quits smoking<\/p>\n

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s smoking habits were the subject of a hot mic moment at the summit.<\/p>\n

Asked by German Chancellor Friedrich Merz if she had already had a cigarette that morning, Ms Meloni revealed that she hadn’t smoked “since the first of May”.<\/p>\n

\"Italian<\/p>\n

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni shared that she has stopped smoking. (AP: Evelyn Hockstein\/Pool)<\/p>\n

Her turn against tobacco prompted enthusiastic congratulations from leaders of Canada, the United Kingdom, Japan and the European Union. Ms Meloni raised her hands in celebration.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Mr Carney had a question for her.<\/p>\n

“Do you have a patch?” the Canadian leader asked, grabbing his own arm.<\/p>\n

On to sport talk<\/p>\n

With the World Cup underway in the United States, Mexico and Canada, soccer naturally became a fallback of discussion.<\/p>\n

As leaders gathered for lunch on Tuesday, Mr Macron and others weighed in.<\/p>\n

Xi and Putin overheard talking about organ transplants and immortality<\/a><\/p>\n

Presidents Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin have been caught on a live microphone talking about the potential of medicine to extend human life spans and “perhaps even achieve immortality”.<\/p>\n

Someone shouted, “Allez les bleus,” the cheer for the French team.<\/p>\n

Another leader can be heard discussing Paris-Saint-Germain’s recent Champions League victory.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump turned his attention to the UFC cage match event he hosted at the White House on Sunday.<\/p>\n

He spoke glowingly of the CEO of UFC, Dana White, to anyone who would listen.<\/p>\n

At another point during the day, UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer effused about Cape Verde’s surprise 0-0 draw against World Cup champion Spain.<\/p>\n

“Quite remarkable, I have to say,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Merz, who recently sparred with Trump over the war in Iran, presented Mr Trump with a German national team soccer jersey bearing Trump’s name and the number 47.<\/p>\n

Mr Trump raised it and smiled bemusedly for a photo before setting it aside.<\/p>\n

\"Donald<\/p>\n

Donald Trump seemed bemused by the jersey he was given by Friedrich Merz. (AP: Thibault Camus\/Pool)<\/p>\n

Aside from the sport of hot mic moments, there were a few instances of gift-giving diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Mr Macron gave all seven of his counterparts personalised bicycles to promote the Cycling World Championships scheduled next year in the French Alps.<\/p>\n

There was no hot mic moment to capture Mr Trump’s reaction, who is not known to bike and has joked about doing minimal exercise beyond regular golf outings.<\/p>\n

ABC\/Wires<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"If you’ve ever wondered what the leaders of the world’s richest democracies talk about on the sidelines of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":111010,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5],"tags":[227,184,230,234,8148,55913,190,3653,57,159,1317,59,43756,294,76],"class_list":["post-111009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-greenland","tag-canada","tag-donald-trump","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-france","tag-g7","tag-german-chancellor-freder-merz","tag-germany","tag-giorgia-meloni","tag-greenland","tag-italy","tag-keir-starmer","tag-mark-carney","tag-summit","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116770116014592891","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=111009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}