G7 Summit: Global leaders will arrive in the Canadian Rockies for a Group of Seven (G7) summit on Sunday (local time). With US President Donald Trump’s raging trade war as the wild card and dark clouds of the Iran-Israel conflict hovering above the international gathering, the tensions have peaked to an all-time high.
While Canada and newly elected Prime Minister Mark Carney will try their best to avoid clashes with Trump, issues like the US tariffs, the Middle East conflict and the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war are poised to be key points of discussion at the G7.
Despite Carney’s initial promises to prioritise strengthening peace and security, this year’s G7 summit comes hot on the heels of back-and-forth attacks between Israel and Iran for a third consecutive day as of Sunday.
India and Canada: PM Modi’s visit to thaw strained relations?
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also kicked off his first foreign visit after launching Operation Sindoor against Pakistan in May. Wading through international waters, Modi began his travel to Cyprus on Sunday, as he continues on a three-nation visit.
In light of Carney’s invitation to his Indian counterpart, PM Modi will also seemingly participate in the G7 summit. Both politicians sought to navigate geopolitical minefields in hopes of burying the strained relations between the nations since former PM Justin Trudeau accused India of killing Sikh separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar on Canadian soil.
No joint communique at this year’s G7 summit
Settling on a final communique is a common tradition followed by leaders at gatherings like the G7 summit as a display of unity among the global participants. However, given the current circumstances and strife around the world, the Group of Seven nations won’t try to reach consensus on a comprehensive joint communique.
In light of the arising differences on matters like climate change, Ukraine and more, Canadian hosts will prefer the release of standalone joint leaders’ statements instead of a single document.
Global leaders on the issue
With the Iran and Israel tensions fresh in mind, a G7 official said that leaders are poised to issue a joint statement on Iran calling for de-escalation.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz noted that through this Summit, he hoped to foreground his goals for Iran not to develop or possess nuclear weapons while at the same time ensuring Israel’s right to defend itself. Avoiding the escalation of the conflict through diplomacy remains at the forefront for him.
Trump on Iran-Israel: The US president predicted “peace soon” between the countries despite the repeated missile attacks. “I hope there’s going to be a deal. I think it’s time for a deal,” he told reporters ahead of the G7 Summit, adding “sometimes they have to fight it out.” In addition to his unsubstantiated claims on the supposed resolution, US officials told Reuters that Trump vetoed an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Trump in the middle
In addition to India’s presence at the summit, expected guests for the Sunday-Tuesday event include leaders from Ukraine, Mexico, Australia, South Africa, South Korea and Brazil.
As a result, Canadian Senator Peter Boehm, a veteran former diplomat who acted as Trudeau’s personal rep to the 2018 event, noted that this year’s summit’s duration could last longer than usual to make room for a bilateral meeting with the POTUS.
“Many will want to talk to President Trump about their own particular interests and concerns,” he said, as per Reuters.
While this year’s event will mark Trump’s first G7 outing in his second term, his very first summit in Quebec in 2018 saw him walking out on a joint statement after suggesting Trudeau was “very dishonest and weak”. The US president also ended up leaving the event early despite then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronting him after he hit Canada, Mexico and Europe with steel and aluminium tariffs.
In his efforts to avoid a repeat of history, Mark Carney told Sky News that a major takeaway from that incident “is to be consistent – say the same thing in private as you do in public, say the same things after the summit as you do during the summit”. Hence, the decision to let go of the final communique this year.