In May of 2017, the Italian city of Taormina will be hosting the G7 conference, where the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom get together each year to discuss global economics and governance, energy policy, and international security.
Italy’s current Prime Minister, Matteo Renzi, who will still be in office then, said he “can’t wait to host the new president, whoever she will be.”
With a few notable outliers, like Kim Jong-un and Vladimir Putin, most world leaders are pulling for the Democrats to win the White House for a third term in a row. Especially following the Brexit vote in the UK, many leaders believe that what the global economy needs is stability, if not progress, and they don’t think Trump would contribute to that.
Outside of his fan base, few people think that having Trump in the White House is a good idea. Of course, the president isn’t a monarch and doesn’t make all policy decisions. The trouble is that he is abrasive and quick to be defensive, and the president has to be able to talk to people and function as a sort of Diplomat in Chief.
Trump’s main claim to being qualified to run the nation is that he is a billionaire, but there is a growing body of evidence that he’s made that money through practices such as refusing to pay contractors the agreed-upon amount for their services. He is also the only candidate who, unlike Hillary Clinton, has not yet released his tax returns, leading some to believe that there are things Trump does not want exposed to public scrutiny.
The president also needs to have experience with foreign and domestic policy and international security. According to his detractors, Trump is profoundly lacking in these areas of knowledge.
Being good at diplomacy is good for business. It seems that Prime Minister Renzi believes this as well, which is why he hopes to be meeting with Hillary Clinton rather than Donald Trump at next year’s G7 conference.
