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Trump Participates in a Multilateral Meeting with European Leaders, Aug. 18, 2025

August 18, 2025 · The White House · 0:28:51

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump convened a multilateral meeting at the White House on August 18, 2025, with the European leaders who had traveled to Washington in the wake of the Anchorage summit, carried on the White House channel. Around the table, as the President introduced them: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom, President Emmanuel Macron of France, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, Chancellor Friedrich Merz of Germany, President Alexander Stubb of Finland, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. “We’ve had a very successful day thus far — important discussions as we work to end the killing and stop the war in Ukraine,” the President said. “We want to stop the killing, get this settled.”

The President reported the day’s bilateral with President Zelenskyy and said he would call President Putin right after the session to work toward a trilateral meeting. On the substance, he said President Putin had agreed at Anchorage that Russia would accept security guarantees for Ukraine: “I’m optimistic that collectively we can reach an agreement that would deter any future aggression against Ukraine,” with the European nations taking “a lot of the burden” and the United States helping to “make it very secure.” He also flagged discussion of possible exchanges of territory, taken into consideration against the current line of contact.

Why it matters

The August 18 multilateral is the broadest wartime gathering of European leaders at the White House in the administration: the security-guarantee framework for Ukraine — European-led, American-backed — stated on the record by the President with every principal in the room, and the trilateral process launched from it.

Scoreboard candidate

Scoreboard candidate: the Ukraine security-guarantees framework described by the President on August 18, 2025 — an agreement to deter future aggression, with European nations taking the lead burden and U.S. support — flagged for the scoreboard editors; the entry itself remains review-gated.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in a Multilateral Meeting with European Leaders” (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President at the meeting. Alternate IDs recorded: Nxy442VgPNU (White House 0:57 summit welcome clip) and Rdc2_E2jn-U (White House 1:31 family photo of the same gathering).