U.S. President Donald Trump will host next year's Group of Seven summit on June 10-12 at a Miami golf resort owned by his family members, White House Acting Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney said Thursday.
Trump has previously appeared eager to host the meeting at the Trump National Doral Miami in the southern state of Florida, opening himself up to criticism that he stands to profit financially.
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Mulvaney denied that the president is seeking economic gain, telling a White House press conference that Trump has made it "very clear" that he would not profit from serving as president and that "Donald Trump's brand is probably strong enough as it is" and would not need "any more help."
The White House official also insisted that the facility operator will host the event "at cost," making the outlays "dramatically cheaper" compared to other sites the U.S. government has considered.
The advance team that reviews the proposed sites told Mulvaney that the selected location was a "perfect physical location" for the summit.
The 324-hectare resort facility features villa-style accommodations, luxurious event spaces and four championship golf courses, according to its website.
The focus of the summit, which will involve Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States plus the European Union, will be to look into the challenges of the global economy, according to Mulvaney.
The official, meanwhile, said climate change is not on the planned agenda, apparently reflecting Trump's decision to pull out of the Paris Agreement, which he has seen as being unfair and harmful to U.S. industries.
The landmark accord, which went into force in 2016, aims to keep an increase in average world temperatures to "well below" 2 C compared to pre-industrial levels to limit the occurrence of droughts, floods, melting glaciers, sea level rises and other adverse effects of global warming.
Mulvaney said Washington is considering whether to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G-7 summit as many topics of discussion involve Russia.
He also said Trump has the authority as the host country to invite Putin.
At the last G-7 summit in August in France, the leaders discussed Russia's potential return. Despite Trump's push for readmitting Russia, other G-7 members objected due to a lack of progress on resolving the Crimea issue. Russia annexed Crimea from the Ukraine in 2014.
