Trump Says G7 'Boss' Remark Was a Joke
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- Trump told Axios his 'I'm the boss' remark to G7 leaders was meant in jest, saying 'I was just being funny' and recounting walking into a room where seven leaders sat at a table meant for 30 people.
- When asked how many leaders took the remark literally, Trump replied 'All of them,' adding he was surprised the comment 'got carried all over the world.'
- Trump characterized the summit as 'very powerful' and 'very dominant,' claiming 'We got what I wanted,' and said his second term is more powerful than his first.
- Trump told Italy's La7 broadcaster that Italian PM Giorgia Meloni 'begged' him for a photograph, saying 'I wouldn't have taken it, but I felt sorry for her.'
- Meloni responded on social media that she was 'stunned' and Trump's account was 'made up,' declaring 'Neither I nor Italy ever beg' — prompting Italy's foreign minister to cancel a planned visit to the United States.
- On NBC, Trump doubled down and pivoted to substance, saying Meloni 'wasn't there for us' on the Strait of Hormuz, the waterway Iran effectively closed after Israeli and U.S. attacks earlier this year.
Why it matters: The G7 was convened to project Western cohesion on security and economic coordination, but Trump's off-the-cuff remarks and his escalating feud with Meloni — whom he linked to the Strait of Hormuz dispute — undercut that signal in real time, with a foreign-minister-level visit already scrapped in protest.
