When asked about his participation in the G7 in Paris on Thursday, the American president replied "no", while taking care to downplay the upcoming role of the French president.

Donald Trump on Tuesday rejected the invitation from French President Emmanuel Macron to a G7 meeting in Paris, scheduled for Thursday and ultimately postponed.

Asked at a press conference if he might go there, the American president replied: "No, I wouldn't do that. Because, you know, Emmanuel isn't going to stay there very long. He's a friend of mine. He's a nice guy. I like Macron, but he's not going to stay there very long, as you know," he said.

Next week

In the evening, French Economy Minister Roland Lescure announced on France 2 that the meeting between the G7 finance ministers is postponed until "next week".

The invitations for the G7 finance meeting have indeed been sent out for this Wednesday, the ministry told AFP, but "due to the Davos summit and purely scheduling issues, and in order to allow the availability of all ministers, the first G7 finance meeting will be held next week."

At the level of heads of state, Emmanuel Macron had also initiated a G7 but Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he was rejecting the invitation.

"We have disagreements"

"We have profound disagreements (editor's note: with the United States), but the best thing is still to continue talking about it while showing the weapons we have," said Roland Lescure regarding this meeting which was to be held by videoconference.

"We are facing a risk of a collapse of the international and global economic order, as we have known it for 80 years. The UN, the International Monetary Fund, the G7 which is celebrating its 50th anniversary... These are institutions which aimed and must still aim to be able to negotiate, discuss and exchange in complete frankness," he stated.

"Europe is today a power that is fundamentally unsuspected, and somewhat unaware of itself. We have the largest market in the world, when you negotiate with someone who sits down with a gun on the table, you have to be able to show your weapons too, and we have them," the minister continued, describing the current relationship with the United States as "extremely difficult."

The EU possesses, in particular, a powerful anti-coercion instrument, the activation of which has been mentioned by Emmanuel Macron. Compared by some to a "bazooka" and conceived as a deterrent, it aims to counter any country that uses trade weapons to exert pressure on one of the 27 member states. Specifically, it allows for restrictions on imports from a country, its access to certain public procurement markets, and the blocking of certain investments.