Ahead of one of the G20 sessions in Osaka, US President Donald Trump appeared to have abruptly cut a brief chat with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez.
After a greeting, Trump was filmed pointing his finger at Sanchez’s seat before striding further toward his own seat. Sanchez obeyed the ‘instruction’, putting a smile on his face.
Although the POTUS might have thought this was a bad time for a conversation, or perhaps was unwilling to stand in the way of other politicians and their aides passing by, his gesture was still interpreted as offensive by some observers in Spain.
El Pais, one of the country’s biggest dailies, described it as “mocking” while El Periodico called it “ugly”. Diario Patriota, a popular online media outlet, reported that Trump had “humiliated” Sanchez and recalled that at a NATO summit last July, he “barely looked” in Sanchez’s face and “forced himself” to answer his greeting.
