The leaders of the G7 nations yesterday began annual talks amid wars in Ukraine and the Middle East that add to global economic uncertainty, as host Canada tries to avoid a clash with US President Donald Trump.
The G7 leaders from the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US, along with the EU, were convening in Kananaskis in the Canadian Rockies for the two-day summit. However, beyond the serene and picturesque mountain setting, they confront challenges.
The first five months of Trump’s second term upended foreign policy on Ukraine, raised anxiety over his closer ties to Russia and resulted in tariffs on US allies. With an escalating Israel-Iran conflict, which is spiking global oil prices, the summit in Canada is seen as a vital moment to try and restore a semblance of unity between democratic powerhouses.
Photo: AFP
“The most important goal will be for the world’s seven largest industrial nations to reach agreement and take action,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said before attending his first G7.
That would not be easy. After years of consensus, the traditional allies have scrambled to keep Trump engaged and maintain unity. Canada has abandoned any effort to adopt an all-encompassing comprehensive communique to avert a repeat of a 2018 summit in Quebec, when Trump instructed the US delegation to withdraw its approval of the final communique after leaving.
Instead, Ottawa has sought to get consensus for a chair’s statement that summarizes the key discussions and six other pre-negotiated declarations on issues such as migration, artificial intelligence and forest fires.
Talks yesterday were to center around the economy, advancing trade deals and China. Efforts to reach an agreement to lower the G7 price cap on Russian oil even if Trump decided to opt out have been complicated by the surge in oil prices since Israel launched strikes on Iran on Thursday, two diplomatic sources said.
The escalation between the two regional foes is on the agenda, with diplomatic sources saying they hope to achieve at least a joint statement to urge restraint and a return to diplomacy.
“We are united. Nobody wants to see Iran get a nuclear weapon and everyone wants discussions and negotiations to restart,” French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters in Greenland on Sunday before traveling to Canada.
Given Israel’s dependence on US weapons and munitions, Washington had the capacity to restart negotiations, he added.
Trump on Sunday said that many calls and meetings were taking place to broker peace.
Highlighting the unease among some of Washington’s allies, Trump spoke on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested the Russian leader could play a mediation role.
Macron dismissed the idea, saying that Moscow could not be a negotiator because it had started an illegal war against Ukraine.
A European diplomat said Trump’s suggestion showed that Russia, despite being kicked out of the group in 2014 after annexing Crimea, was very much on US minds.
“In the eyes of the US, there’s no condemnation for Ukraine; no peace without Russia; and now even credit for its mediation role with Iran. For Europeans, this will be a really tough G7,” the diplomat said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte are to join the summit today. European officials said they hoped to use the meeting, and next week’s NATO summit, to convince Trump to toughen his stance on Putin.
“The G7 should have the objective for us to converge again, for Ukraine to get a ceasefire to lead to a robust and lasting peace, and in my view it’s a question of seeing whether President Trump is ready to put forward much tougher sanctions on Russia,” Macron said.
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