Can Trump pull off peace plans, trade deals at the G7? What to know about the summit

USA Today

8 hours ago

Can Trump pull off peace plans, trade deals at the G7? What to know about the summit
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Army 250th anniversary parade marches on despite weather worries
President Donald Trump's controversial military parade kicked off 30 minutes early to avoid inclement weather.
WASHINGTON – When President Donald Trump went to Charlevoix, Canada, in 2018 for a meeting of the world's wealthiest nations, the visit was encapsulated by one photo.
The image showed world leaders confronting the U.S. president, who remained seated while they stood, his arms crossed.
Trump had railed against former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau after the 2018 Group of Seven summit, and he would yank the United States from a joint statement after he'd already departed. The leaders fought at the time over his retaliatory steel and aluminum tariffs.
The G7 summit changes hands annually, and it just so happens to be Canada's turn to host again this week. Canadian leaders say they're eager to avoid the disarray that defined the gathering back in 2018, working to minimize any outward appearance of divisions.
Trump has often been a disruptor at global gatherings, badgering U.S. allies and competitors alike to adopt policies more favorable to the United States. But a conflict that erupted last week between Israel and Iran over Tehran's illicit nuclear program could change the dynamic in 2025, as the U.S. president flies to the foothills of the Rockies for the G7 summit.
The president may not want to be a disrupter this time around: Instead, he could try to keep his international colleagues focused on solutions in the Middle East.
'Trump wants some kind of deescalation,' said Josh Lipsky, a G7 organizer for former President Barack Obama who chairs the international economics program at the Atlantic Council. 'That's what all the leaders around the table want. There's an avenue here where Trump plays a more traditional role.'
What will happen at the G7 summit?
Israel and Iran will be front-and-center at the summit, after the countries launched additional missile attacks on the eve of the event.
The volley comes after nuclear talks between the United States and Iranian negotiators that had been scheduled to take place on June 15 were canceled, despite a focused effort from Trump to keep them on track.
He told Tehran in social media posts and interviews with American journalists that a reinvigorated agreement was the only diplomatic offramp.
And Trump is eager to make an agreement with Israel and Iran as war between Israel and Hamas also tears at the region.
"We can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel, and end this bloody conflict!!!" Trump shared on Truth Social early Sunday morning.
Instead of focusing on global financial issues and having a security discussion that is mostly about China and Russia, the conflict in the Middle East will naturally take up a larger portion of the discussion, Kelly Ann Shaw, who was Trump's representative to the economic club in the latter part of his first term, told USA TODAY.
'There's going to be a tremendous amount of concern about this exploding into a much broader regional conflict and what that means for every country participating in the G7,' she said.
Trump has been laying the groundwork to play peacemaker: Ahead of the summit, Trump spoke to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen about the conflict and Russian President Vladimir Putin, whose country was kicked out of the informal gathering after it annexed Crimea in 2014.
'He feels, as do I, this war in Israel-Iran should end, to which I explained, his war should also end,' Trump said of his hour-long conversation with Putin June 14.
Russia helped facilitate a previous deal to curtail Iran's uranium enrichment program, which Trump pulled the United States out of in his first term.
In a nod to how much the fighting between Israel and Iran was upending the regular international order, Trump said he and Putin spent 'much less time' on the phone talking about the Russian leader's assault on Ukraine.
'That will be for next week,' Trump said, referring to a NATO Summit that will bring the U.S. and its military allies together in late June in the Netherlands.
Leaders won't only talk about Iran and Israel. After all, tariffs are one of the main issues agitating Trump and his counterparts during his second-chance presidency.
Since 2018, Trump has expanded his tariff regime, and they've become a centerpiece of his second term. Trade dealing could be on the table with Canada, the European Union and more.
The president has advocated for the United States to absorb its northern neighbor – the host of the summit. And leaders still plan to discuss topics such as artificial intelligence and wildfire management.
How will talks on tariffs, peacemaking play out?
Of the group that attended the last G7 Summit in Canada, only Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron remain in power. The leaders of the United Kingdom, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy have turned over since Trump was last in office.
Gone is a typically long winded and hard-fought communique that every country has to agree to. Canada worked with G7 nations to come up with short, action-oriented leader statements on areas of common interest, a senior U.S. official said.
'I think it's a more pragmatic approach, frankly,' Shaw, the former Trump aide, assessed. 'And it really does get the G7 on what it's supposed to be doing – which is talking about the most pressing issues of the day.'
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney will encourage nations to 'stand together,' Canadian ambassador to the United States, Kirsten Hillman, said in an interview, including working through those issues in a mutually supportive way.
'That's going to be his main message to all of the leaders: build a coalition of like-minded countries that share values, that believe in international cooperation, believe in free and open exchange of ideas, of goods, of services, of the technologies that keep us all strong together and safe and secure,' she said.
Still, the American president's tariffs are a challenge for G7 nations. A reprieve he offered most countries and the EU expires next month. He's in the midst of negotiating deals with several participating countries, including Japan and the UK, a country he reached a framework agreement with in May.
A senior U.S. official said Trump was eager to pursue his trade goals and take part in working sessions at the G7 on migrants and drug smuggling, in addition to other topics.
Hillman said there's no denying that countries are feeling the impact of Trump's tariffs. 'Those are issues I'm sure that the president will want to talk to leaders about, and leaders will want to exchange their views, as well.'
Yet, Trump will be hard-pressed to play the role of peacemaker, after boasting, repeatedly, that existing conflicts would not have started had he won a second consecutive term.
And while tariffs are likely to come up in individual sit-downs, world leaders were already aiming to avoid a public clash with Trump like the one that unfolded in the infamous 2018 photo, Lipsky said.
They have a very clear objective this time, he added.
'You have the leaders of the world's largest advanced democracies in one room for a weekend. And if they can't coordinate on some signal to both the Israelis and the Iranians, then they'll never be able to do it,' Lipsky said.