Why German Chancellor Angela Merkel declined an invitation to the US for the G7 meeting

US President Donald Trump invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel to the United States to attend the summit of the world's largest economies (G7), but the German leader refused to accept this invitation.

According to Reuters news agency, on May 29, German Chancellor Angela Merkel officially rejected the invitation of US President Donald Trump to Washington to attend the meeting of the world's major economy meeting (G7) scheduled to hold in late June.

Earlier, the invitation was sent by Mr. Trump to the leaders of G7 countries. The G7 meeting was scheduled to be held in March at Camp David (USA), but it was postponed due to the impact of COVID-19.

Newspaper Politico quoted spokesman Steffen Seibert German government said Chancellor Merkel rejected the invitation of President Trump for safety reasons, after reviewing the situation of COVID-19 and how it is affecting the whole world.

"So far, considering the general situation of the pandemic, she cannot agree to personally attend a journey to Washington. The German Chancellor thanked President Trump for inviting him to attend the G7 summit."

Seibert said.

Ms. Merkel said that June was too early to conduct face-to-face meetings, although some countries had begun to open the border and gradually eased travel restrictions.

Sheets Channel News Asia said Merkel was the first to give refusal to attend the meeting. Meanwhile, other G7 heads of state do not have an official answer.

The group of countries with the largest economies in the world (G7) includes the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States. Countries will take turns to organize annual meetings. Last year's conference was held in France.