Trump signals fresh push to resolve GERD dispute in meeting with El-Sisi

EVIAN – 17 June 2026: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday he will revisit the dispute over the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam (GERD), saying the project is causing "tremendous problems for Egypt."

Speaking as he sat down with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for bilateral talks on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Evian, France, Trump said the Nile River issue will be among the topics discussed.

"We'll be discussing the Nile because the Nile is getting a little emptier than it should be, and that's what we're here to talk about," Trump said.

"A dam was built in Ethiopia and it's causing tremendous problems for Egypt and I'm very aware."

Trump said he had previously secured a deal on the dispute during his first term before elections were held and “somebody came in and they didn’t know much about that. They were not going to settle anything.”

"I had that deal settled," he said.

"But we'll get back into it. We'll see if we can settle it up," Trump said.

The GERD, a mega dam which Ethiopia has built on the Blue Nile and is capable of holding up to 74 billion cubic meters of water, has been a longstanding source of tension between Cairo and Addis Ababa.

Egypt has repeatedly stressed the need for a legally binding agreement governing the filling and operation of the dam to safeguard its water security, a demand that Ethiopia has rejected.

In October, Egypt accused Ethiopia of creating a “man-made flood” that put the lives and resources of populations in the two downstream countries at risk, citing “hasty and uncoordinated filling” of the recently inaugurated dam.

El-Sisi stressed to Trump the paramount importance of the Nile River as a matter of Egypt's national security, the Presidency said in a statement.

He also expressed appreciation for Trump's interest in the issue, which he emphasized as pivotal for Egypt.

Trump, for his part, said he understands all of Egypt's concerns regarding the matter and stressed that he would give the issue the highest priority in order to reach a fair settlement.

The meeting between El-Sisi and Trump came amid broader discussions at the G7 Summit on regional security, economic cooperation and ongoing diplomatic efforts to address conflicts in the Middle East.