Speaking alongside Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, U.S. President Donald Trump said Ethiopia's Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam, or GERD, on the Blue Nile was causing "tremendous problems" for Egypt and that Cairo had been "very unfairly treated," adding that the Nile waters would be a focus of his talks with al-Sisi on the sidelines of the Group of Seven summit in France, Addis Standard reported on June 17. Trump reiterated his "support" for Egypt and said his administration would "get back" to attempting to "settle" tensions between Egypt and Ethiopia regarding the management of the Nile.

Trump advanced plans for the signing of an agreement between Egypt, Sudan and Ethiopia regarding the management of the Nile waters at the end of his first term, but the agreement was never signed. On Jan. 16, Trump said mediating the dispute over the GERD was "at the very top of [his] agenda," but little progress appears to have been made since based on publicly available information.