G20: an early and unexpected stumble for Macri

It arrived earlier than expected. President Mauricio Macri suffered the complications and discomforts that Donald Trump can cause just after the first meeting and before the official opening of the summit of the G20 .

The irritation he showed with the translation in the Casa Rosada, by throwing the handset to the floor, was the least important. His spokeswoman, Sarah Sanders, embarrassed the Argentine government with what it least expected: the relationship with China.

The balance the Argentine government seeks to manage between the two powers was shaken by Sanders' assertion that there had been coincidences between Trump and Macri over the need to face the "predatory" Chinese economic practices.

The Argentine foreign minister, Jorge Faurie , barely managed to put the statement in doubt during the press conference a few minutes later in the press center of Parque Norte. He said he did not think that those where the terms of what had been discussed. There was not much more he could do at that point, but neither could he delay a response to the concern raised by Sanders' statement.

Several hours after the awkward version of the White House, the Casa Rosada was still in upheaval, with several prominent ministers and officials seeking to offer some explanation. Some of them even had to face the journalists without having been informed. An unexpected stumble too early.

Por Claudio Jacquelin

• G20 Summit 2018

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