Foreign ministers of leading Western democracies sought to show a united front in Canada yesterday after seven weeks of rising tensions between US allies and US President Donald Trump over his upending of foreign policy on Ukraine and imposing of tariffs.
The G7 ministers from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, along with the EU, convened in the remote tourist town of La Malbaie, nestled in the Quebec hills, for two days of meetings that in the past have broadly been consensual on the issues they face.
Top of the agenda for Washington’s partners would be getting a debriefing on US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s talks on Tuesday with Kyiv in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, where Ukraine said it was ready to support a 30-day ceasefire deal.
Photo: AP
However, in the run-up to the first G7 meeting of Canada’s presidency, the crafting of an agreed all-encompassing final statement has been tough with some G7 diplomats questioning Washington’s engagement in the process.
A US decision to impose 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports immediately drew reciprocal measures from Canada and the EU, underscoring the tensions.
“Under [President of the US’] @POTUS’s leadership, we are going to use forums like the G7 to counter our adversaries and stand by our allies. America First!,” US Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote on X as he arrived in Canada.
Washington has sought to impose red lines on language around Ukraine and opposed a separate declaration on curbing Russia’s so-called shadow fleet, a murky shipping network that eludes sanctions, while demanding more robust language on China.
An initial draft communique, which diplomats said was unlikely to reflect final discussions and might not gain consensus, made no mention of sanctions on Russia, but did appear to be tougher on China calling on it to cease its support for Russia’s war effort.
Unlike a joint statement in November last year, when almost two pages out of eight were focused entirely on Ukraine, mostly taking aim at Russia, the initial draft includes just four carefully-worded paragraphs that are unlikely to antagonize Moscow.
On Monday, Rubio cautioned that Washington did not want language that could harm efforts to bring Russia and Ukraine to the negotiating table.
G7 diplomats said the positive outcome from Jeddah might at least ease talks on Ukraine as the US now seeks a response from Moscow.
The US, since Trump’s return to office on Jan. 20, has taken a less-friendly stance on Ukraine, pushing for a quick deal to end the war, demanded European partners take on more of the burden without openly endorsing their role in future talks and warmed Washington’s ties with Moscow.
Even Japan, so reliant on US security guarantees, has found itself in Trump’s firing line.
“It’s very difficult. Maybe we should wait for the G8,” said one European diplomat ironically.
Trump has suggested the G8 might be revived with the return of Moscow 11 years after its membership in the group was suspended over its annexation of Crimea.
Nowhere have the difficulties for US allies been more apparent than in Canada.
Relations between the US and Canada are at an all-time low, thanks to Trump’s threats to impose tariffs on all imports from Canada and his constant musing about annexing the country to make it the 51st US state.
“It is not a meeting about how we’re going to take over Canada,” Rubio told reporters, highlighting how offbeat their ties have become.
That might not appease Ottawa. Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly on Wednesday said she would be on the offensive at the G7.
“In every single meeting, I will raise the issue of tariffs to coordinate a response with the Europeans and to put pressure on the Americans,” she said.
The two met yesterday morning for bilateral talks.
European diplomats said they hoped to use the G7 to assess directly how much influence Rubio has on US foreign policy.
Trump has used a wide array of officials not linked to the US Department of State in talks ranging from Ukraine to the situation in the Middle East, where allies have been alarmed by some of the erratic statements coming from Washington.
The CIA has a message for Chinese government officials worried about their place in Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) government: Come work with us. The agency released two Mandarin-language videos on social media on Thursday inviting disgruntled officials to contact the CIA. The recruitment videos posted on YouTube and X racked up more than 5 million views combined in their first day. The outreach comes as CIA Director John Ratcliffe has vowed to boost the agency’s use of intelligence from human sources and its focus on China, which has recently targeted US officials with its own espionage operations. The videos are “aimed at
STEADFAST FRIEND: The bills encourage increased Taiwan-US engagement and address China’s distortion of UN Resolution 2758 to isolate Taiwan internationally The Presidential Office yesterday thanked the US House of Representatives for unanimously passing two Taiwan-related bills highlighting its solid support for Taiwan’s democracy and global participation, and for deepening bilateral relations. One of the bills, the Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act, requires the US Department of State to periodically review its guidelines for engagement with Taiwan, and report to the US Congress on the guidelines and plans to lift self-imposed limitations on US-Taiwan engagement. The other bill is the Taiwan International Solidarity Act, which clarifies that UN Resolution 2758 does not address the issue of the representation of Taiwan or its people in
SHIFT: Taiwan’s better-than-expected first-quarter GDP and signs of weakness in the US have driven global capital back to emerging markets, the central bank head said The central bank yesterday blamed market speculation for the steep rise in the local currency, and urged exporters and financial institutions to stay calm and stop panic sell-offs to avoid hurting their own profitability. The nation’s top monetary policymaker said that it would step in, if necessary, to maintain order and stability in the foreign exchange market. The remarks came as the NT dollar yesterday closed up NT$0.919 to NT$30.145 against the US dollar in Taipei trading, after rising as high as NT$29.59 in intraday trading. The local currency has surged 5.85 percent against the greenback over the past two sessions, central
US Indo-Pacific Commander Admiral Samuel Paparo on Friday expressed concern over the rate at which China is diversifying its military exercises, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Saturday. “The rates of change on the depth and breadth of their exercises is the one non-linear effect that I’ve seen in the last year that wakes me up at night or keeps me up at night,” Paparo was quoted by FT as saying while attending the annual Sedona Forum at the McCain Institute in Arizona. Paparo also expressed concern over the speed with which China was expanding its military. While the US
RSS