Trump's day in the G20: irritation and the shadow of the Russiagate

He started the day in a bad mood, downloading his fury on Twitter, before being received at the Casa Rosada by the president Mauricio Macri . Donald Trump , protagonist of the G20 summit , once again criticized the investigation that haunts him, the Russiagate, which he once called a "witch hunt".

He arrived late for his first appointment of the day. Already in the White Room of the Casa Rosada, in front of the cameras, Trump received a headset and a translation device from Macri to listen to the translation of his message. While Macri spoke to the cameras, and thanked him for his strong support, Trump looked again and again at the device, and gave it a couple of turns, as if wanting to check that it worked. "I think I understood you better in your language than in this, but it's okay," he said, once Macri finished.

"I think I understood you better in your language than in this, but it's okay," Trump said, once Macri finished

Annoyed, he threw the device to the floor. An employee of the Casa Rosada moved quickly across the stage and bent down to pick it up. Macri smiled with his hands folded. From the Casa Rosada, Trump departed back to Duhau Palace for a long-awaited ceremony, which allowed him to stamp his signature on one of his main campaign promises: the signing of the new trade agreement between the United States, Mexico and Canada. Trump took almost all his delegation to that event, where he stood between the president of Mexico, Enrique Peña Nieto, and the Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau .

It was a historic moment. The three presidents exchanged compliments, smiles, handshakes and good wishes after more than a year of diplomatic battles. There was, yes, a tense moment. Tethered by the protocol, Trump read his message, and pressed his lips when Trudeau, standing next to him, once again demanded a solution to the tariffs on steel and aluminum that he imposed on Mexico and Canada, among others countries.

Trump left that ceremony and moved to Costa Salguero for the start of the G-20 summit. Not a fan of these international meetings, he passed in front of Macri before all the presidents arrived for the family photo. Macri called out to him, but Trump ignored him. He continued walking almost to the end, and eluded an uncomfortable moment: he passed by the Saudi Crown Prince, Mohammed ben Salman, known by his acronym, "MBS", and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin , without stopping to chat or shake hands. Then, however, he exchanged "comments in the leadership session" with the crown prince, according to a senior White House official.

The ever present threat of the Russiagate distracted him from the summit. Trump sent his spokeswoman, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, to redouble the offensive with a statement against the Russian plot. He received bad news just before flying to Buenos Aires: his personal ex-lawyer, Michael Cohen, pleaded guilty to the accusation of lying to Congress about a real estate project in Moscow that never materialized, and agreed to cooperate with the prosecutor Special, Robert Mueller.

"The Russian Witch Hunt Hoax, which is hopefully now nearing an end, is doing very well. Unfortunately, it probably does undermine our relationship with Russia. However, the reason for our canceled meeting is Ukraine. Hopefully, that will be resolved soon so that productive conversations can begin", said the spokeswoman. The journalists who moved with the president asked him why he had canceled his meeting with Putin. "Ukraine, it's purely Ukraine", Trump replied. They also asked him what he had talked about with MBS, accused by the CIA of having ordered the murder of The Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. "We did not discuss anything," he replied.