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Trump Plans Breakfast With U.K.’s Boris Johnson on Sunday

Trump Plans Breakfast With U.K.’s Boris Johnson on Sunday

(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump and U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson plan to meet for breakfast on Sunday while in France for the Group of Seven leaders’ summit, according to people familiar with the matter.

Trump lands this weekend in Biarritz, France, for the meetings. The two leaders are scheduled to talk as Johnson makes his international debut while global leaders weigh what a post-Brexit Britain will look like. It will be their first meeting since Johnson took office.

Trump also plans to meet with other leaders at the summit, including French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a senior administration told reporters Thursday.

Johnson has appeared eager to forge a close relationship with Trump. They have spoken at least four times by phone since Johnson became prime minister last month, most recently on Monday. But Johnson also has to balance his closeness to Trump with the U.S. president’s deep unpopularity in the U.K.

“He’s going to do a fantastic job,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Tuesday. “We have a great relationship.”

Trump, who cut an isolated figure at last year’s G-7 gathering, sees Johnson as an ally as the gap between the European Union and U.S. widens. Johnson seeks closeness with both the U.S. and the EU and could potentially tip the balance on key issues from Iran to China’s Huawei Technologies Co.

--With assistance from Alex Morales.

To contact the reporters on this story: Jennifer Jacobs in Washington at jjacobs68@bloomberg.net;Saleha Mohsin in Washington at smohsin2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, Justin Blum, Joshua Gallu

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