The Political Page, T+164 -- July 3, 2017

No love lost.

• Saudi Arabia announced it will not be attending the G-20 summit.
• Meanwhile, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross abruptly cancels trip for the G-20 summit pre-meeting.

Linkage. A reader asked if there might be linkage between those two stories (US SecCommerce abruptly cancels visit to Germany and Saudi announces it won't attend the G-20 summit). Well, here's the linkage, Donald Trump spoke to the king yesterday, just before the announcements. His early morning tweet:

"Spoke yesterday with the King of Saudi Arabia about peace in the Middle-East. Interesting things are happening! Then I called Wilbur."

Just joking. That part about Wilbur was not in the tweet. Exceeded the 140-character limit.

Linkage. In two follow-on tweets, President Trump says he will be talking to France, Germany, and Italy this morning.