![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/XUW7GEWTYJG4Z3DKUM2FAPCW4E.jpg\")
President Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom departed after a joint news conference at Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence near Aylesbury, England, on Sept. 18, 2025. DOUG MILLS\/NYT<\/p>\nThe dynamics of the summit are not unlike a family holiday gathering where \u201cthere\u2019s an uncle you don\u2019t quite like,\u201d said Max Bergmann, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd no one wants to have a confrontation, even if things get quite passive-aggressive at times,\u201d Bergmann said. \u201cBut, you know, there\u2019s always the possibility that things might snap, and it might get rather dramatic.\u201d<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s a look at some of the notable moments of public friction and uncomfortable exchanges between Trump and his fellow G7 leaders.<\/p>\n
President Trump and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom departed after a joint news conference at Chequers, the prime minister’s country residence near Aylesbury, England, on Sept. 18, 2025. DOUG MILLS\/NYT<\/p>\n
Starmer is no Churchill in Trump\u2019s eyes<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s criticism of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has focused on the United Kingdom\u2019s reluctance to assist U.S. military strikes on Iran<\/a>, British immigration policies, and the country\u2019s renewable energy strategies.<\/p>\n But his most cutting jab at Starmer came after the Labour Party leader initially declined to allow U.S. military jets to use a British base in the Indian Ocean for the bombardment of Iran. \u201cThis is not Winston Churchill that we\u2019re dealing with,\u201d Trump said of Starmer, comparing him unfavorably to Britain\u2019s revered World War II-era prime minister.<\/p>\n Trump in the first days of the Iran war tore into the prime minister after the U.K. placed the aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales on advanced readiness status to potentially deploy to the Middle East.<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t need people that join Wars after we\u2019ve already won!\u201d Trump said on social media.<\/p>\n The prime minister who Trump likes to call governor<\/p>\n Trump has fumed about trade imbalances with Canada, frequently opines about annexing Canada and making it the \u201c51st state,\u201d and has taken to referring to Prime Minister Mark Carney as \u201cgovernor.\u201d<\/p>\n His sharpest rhetoric toward the leader of America\u2019s northern neighbor came after Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, condemned coercion by great powers on smaller countries without mentioning Trump\u2019s name.<\/p>\n \u201cCanada lives because of the United States,\u201d Trump said in his own remarks at Davos. \u201cRemember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.\u201d<\/p>\n Carney has tried to remain even-keeled over Trump\u2019s jabs<\/a>. The prime minister told reporters earlier this month that Trump was an \u201cexceptionally active user of social media\u201d and that he was not going to respond to everything he posts.<\/p>\n Trump mocks Macron\u2019s marriage and questions France\u2019s reliability<\/p>\n During an Easter lunch at the White House in April, Trump criticized France and other NATO countries\u2019 resistance to assisting the U.S.-Israel war against Iran.<\/p>\n In the midst of the aside, Trump referred to viral video footage from last year which captured Macron\u2019s wife, Brigitte, appearing to push the French president\u2019s face away<\/a> as they were getting off a plane during a visit to Vietnam.<\/p>\n Trump told the audience that Brigitte treats Macron \u201cextremely badly\u201d and said that the French president was \u201cstill recovering from the right to the jaw.\u201d<\/p>\n Macron afterward told reporters that the couple had been simply joking around and said Trump\u2019s comments were \u201cneither elegant nor appropriate.\u201d<\/p>\n Trump regularly regales audiences with his prowess as a dealmaker by recounting conversations he\u2019s had with Macron about trade irritants, mimicking Macron\u2019s responses in an exaggerated accent. In Trump\u2019s retelling, Macron always quickly capitulates.<\/p>\n The conservative premier who Trump suggests lacks courage<\/p>\n Until recently, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni had been held in high regard<\/a> by Trump.<\/p>\n In October, Trump was effusive in his praise of the conservative premier when world leaders gathered in Egypt for a summit to discuss post-war Gaza, calling her \u201ca very successful, very successful politician\u201d and \u201cbeautiful.\u201d<\/p>\n But Trump has since changed his tune as Italy declined to assist the United States in the war against Iran<\/a> and after the premier chastised Trump for feuding with Pope Leo XIV<\/a> about the conflict.<\/p>\n \u201cDo people like her? I can\u2019t believe it,\u201d Trump said of Meloni, to Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera. He added: \u201cI thought she had courage. I was wrong.\u201d<\/p>\n An awkward historical reference in the Oval Office<\/p>\n Trump hasn\u2019t offered any direct criticism of Japan\u2019s Sanae Takaichi since she took office in October.<\/p>\n But some of his commentary during Takaichi\u2019s first White House visit left the prime minister in an awkward position<\/a>.<\/p>\n When asked by a Japanese reporter why he didn\u2019t tell allies in Europe and Asia before the U.S. attacked Iran, Trump casually invoked Pearl Harbor to defend his decision.<\/p>\n \u201cWho knows better about surprise than Japan?\u201d Trump said with Takaichi by his side. \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?\u201d<\/p>\n Trump\u2019s remark surprised many people in Japan<\/a>, who had grown accustomed to American presidents avoiding harsh discussion of Japan\u2019s surprise strike on the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii that pushed the U.S. into World War II. His predecessors have instead focused on deepening ties with Japan, which became an ally after the war.<\/p>\n Takaichi, a hard-line conservative, received a mix of praise and criticism at home for not reacting to the comments by Trump, letting them pass with a glance at her ministers seated nearby.<\/p>\n Chancellor\u2019s Iran war criticism infuriated Trump<\/p>\n German Chancellor Friedrich Merz set off Trump in April when he posited the U.S. was \u201cbeing humiliated\u201d by Iran and criticized the U.S. for going into the war without any strategy, saying that also made it harder to end the conflict.<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/4D3RTQ2FGQVN3R4TNKILD6GVUI.jpg\")
President Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney met in the Oval Office of the White House, on Oct. 7, 2025.Evan Vucci\/AP Photo\/Evan Vucci<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/BPL4OXAVA6CMJ7TLWSH3TRUQXM.jpg\")
President Emmanuel Macron of France with President Trump as Macron arrived at the White House in Washington, on Feb, 24, 2025. DOUG MILLS\/NYT<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/IFVAQUXKRKDY4UI5KWLSOYPLAE.jpg\")
President Trump greeted Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni upon her arrival at the White House, on April 17, 2025.Tom Brenner\/AP Photo\/Tom Brenner<\/p>\n![\"Japanese](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/HR7ITFH26SS2LLTMXKXFDESE6Y.jpg\")
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi gestured as President Trump delivered his speech during their visit to the aircraft carrier USS George Washington at the US Navy’s Yokosuka base in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, on Oct. 28, 2025. Eugene Hoshiko\/AP Photo\/Eugene Hoshiko<\/p>\n![\"President](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/NAVIMC3UUCFPFZIOQYBGGKBWXA.jpg\")
President Trump met with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in the Oval Office at the White House, on March 3.Mark Schiefelbein\/AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein<\/p>\n