Carney says G7 held 'very frank exchanges' as summit ends, following early exits by Trump, Zelenskyy
Prime Minister Carney has just wrapped up this G7 summit with a closing press conference — and it was clear throughout he wanted to avoid what befell his predecessor the last time Canada hosted one of these events.
Justin Trudeau made a supposedly critical remark about Trump at the 2018 summit in Charlevoix, Que., which prompted a series of angry tweets, derailing the final hours of the meeting and the push for a G7 consensus on critical issues of the day.
The clearest sign of Carney's reluctance to be overly critical of Trump and avoid Trudeau's fate came on the question of a joint G7 statement on Ukraine.
A senior Canadian official had briefed reporters earlier Tuesday that such a statement was planned, but was dropped after the Americans wanted some of the tough language about Russia watered down out of fear it could torpedo their push to negotiate an end to that war.
Asked Tuesday night about the situation, Carney denied Trump was offside the other leaders on the issue — even saying Trump is a willing partner in pushing back against Russian aggression.
'Listen, I was there. I'm the chair of the G7 summit,' Carney said at point after facing some reporter pushback over the differing descriptions of what went down.
'I was there with President Trump and we discussed every word in that summary,' he said, referring to a separate so-called chair's statement that Carney personally released tonight. That statement called for maximizing pressure on Russia, including through financial sanctions.
However, Carney did concede that the other countries would have gone further still if it were up to them — but it was a comment made with no derision.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Toronto Star
3 hours ago
- Toronto Star
Mark Carney and world leaders unable to convince Donald Trump to sign joint G7 declaration of support for Ukraine
KANANASKIS, Alta. — The G7 group of world leaders emerged from its Canadian summit without a joint statement against Russia, showing that achieving unity is a lot harder than it looks. Prime Minister Mark Carney and other world leaders around the table could not persuade U.S. President Donald Trump, before he left for Washington, to sign on to a joint declaration of support for Ukraine that contained 'strong language' that Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain, Japan and the European Union all wanted to exert pressure on Russia, according to a Canadian official who briefed reporters Tuesday afternoon before Carney addressed a closing news conference. However Carney later downplayed the absence of a joint G7 declaration on Ukraine, and denied there was any split or disagreement in the G7 ranks. He suggested that the leaders simply agreed that, before Trump took off, the more urgent priority to agree upon was a joint declaration on Iran, and there were no insurmountable differences. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW Leaders of the G7 nations gather for a photo in Kananaskis, Alta., joined by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. U.S. President Donald Trump left the summit the day before to deal with the war between Iran and Israel. (June 17, 2025 / The Canadian Press) That didn't align with information provided earlier to Canadian reporters during a background briefing with a senior government official who said the American side wanted to 'water down' a Ukraine declaration because it would impede U.S. ability to broker an end to the Russia-Ukraine war. The official briefed reporters on condition they not be identified in order to discuss the dynamic behind closed doors, and was only authorized to provide limited details. Late Tuesday, after Carney spoke, the PMO sought to clarify the record. PMO spokesperson Emily Williams in a statement to reporters said that Canada had not proposed a joint G7 document as such, only a 'chair's summary' to other delegations. 'No proposed joint statement regarding Ukraine was distributed. Canada's intention was always for the important language to be a part of the G7 Chairs' Summary Statement, and it was.' Another G7 source said the fault lines on any Ukraine statement were clear as early as last Friday. However Carney, visibly relaxed if not relieved following what he described as a successful summit, said 'I was in the room' and described a successful two days of meetings that produced six other joint statements supported by the G7 leaders and others. On Ukraine, he pointed to a 'chair's summary' that hadn't by then been published which included a single paragraph on Ukraine that Carney insisted represented G7 unity, reading out from it to dispute media questions on 'the minutiae' of the Ukraine discussion. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW 'G7 Leaders expressed support for President Trump's efforts to achieve a just and lasting peace in Ukraine,' it read. 'They recognized that Ukraine has committed to an unconditional ceasefire, and they agreed that Russia must do the same,' the statement continued. It said they are 'resolute in exploring all options to maximize pressure on Russia, including financial sanctions.' Carney's summary of where they aligned — which did not state specific support for more sanctions, more military equipment or seizure of frozen Russian assets — comes at a time when Russia is intensifying its attacks on Ukraine's civilian population and the war-torn country's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy came to Kananaskis to rally more support. Zelenskyy left Wednesday, without ever seeing Trump, cancelling his own news conference. Nevertheless, the G7 did land on an agreed joint statement on Iran-Israel hostilities that the U.S. could live with. It supported a call for de-escalation of conflict in the Middle East region but did not specify the need to de-escalate the spiralling Iran-Israel crisis. It supported Israel's right to defend itself and identified Iran as 'the principal source of regional instability and terror.' There were other divides on display. Trump condemned the G7 decision in 2014 to evict Russia from the G8's ranks, after President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine and annexed the Crimea peninsula. 'A big mistake,' Trump said as Carney stood silently by him Monday. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW In response to reporter questions Tuesday, Carney dismissed any concern that Putin may have been offended by his ouster. 'It was personally offensive, to put it mildly, to the citizens of Ukraine and the inhabitants of Crimea, when Russia invaded in 2014 which was the cause of their ejection from the G8,' Carney said. A huge divide between Trump and the G7, and other international leaders invited to the summit, exists over Trump's global tariffs. Several leaders hoped to negotiate bilateral deals here with Trump to ease the hit, but only a handful — Canada, Japan, the U.K. and the EU — even got a chance to talk directly with the president before he took off. Trump's delegates, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, U.S. trade representative Jamieson Greer, and another White House official remained behind to take part in the summit's meetings with Zelenskyy. French President Emmanuel Macron told the Star Trump's absence did not detract from the discussions on Ukraine with Zelenskyy. He said the G7 is united in a desire to find a lasting and enforceable end to the war. 'It is in the strategic American interest to continue this discussion with us and to do it as we discussed this morning: sanctions, military support for Ukraine to lead Russia to return to the table — which is, by the way, what President Trump has been asking for since February — a ceasefire, and negotiations for a lasting peace.' How they reach that goal is where they differ. Many G7 leaders want more muscular sanctions on Russia and more military equipment sent into Ukraine. Canada announced new measures Tuesday on those fronts, as did Britain. Both increased sanctions on individuals and entities, and targeted Russia's 'shadow fleet' of ships used to evade sanctions. ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's sanctions package took aim at 30 targets across Russia's financial, military and energy sectors, and targets 20 of his oil tankers, as well as the companies responsible for crewing and managing the vessels, according to a U.K. news release. 'These sanctions strike right at the heart of Putin's war machine, choking off his ability to continue his barbaric war in Ukraine,' said Starmer. 'We know that our sanctions are hitting hard, so while Putin shows total disregard for peace, we will not hesitate to keep tightening the screws.' Zelenskyy met Carney in a bilateral meeting Tuesday after a devastating night where Russia rained down missile and drone strikes on Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital. The Ukrainian leader called it a 'big tragedy,' one of the biggest attacks since the beginning of the war, with 440 drones from Russia, and 32 missiles, including ballistic missiles, saying at that point he understood 138 people were injured and 12 killed in the attack. Carney, standing next to Zelenskyy, condemned 'in the strongest terms, the latest outrage — barbarism from Russia,' adding it 'underscores the importance of standing in total solidarity with Ukraine, with the Ukrainian people,' and 'the importance of using maximum pressure against Russia, who has refused to come to the table.' Canada will provide additional drones, helicopters and broader munitions, 'over $2 billion worth of assistance directly to Ukraine,' said Carney. And Ottawa is dispersing the next tranche of the loan based on the frozen Russian assets, $2.3 billion to help rebuild its infrastructure and public systems., he added. Zelenskyy, dressed in black, welcomed the aid. 'We need support from our allies,' he said, 'until Russia will be ready for the peace negotiations. We are ready for ... the unconditional ceasefire.' ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW As he wound up the summit, Carney struck a confidently cocky note, joking about the number of questions, quipping whether Trump had pegged the $71 billion tag for Canada to get in on the 'Golden Dome' in Canadian or U.S. dollars, wisecracking about a G7 where 'there are only, oddly, nine people in the room, because of the two extra Europe — not extra Europeans — right amount of Europeans.' He said the summit's direct dialogue and 'strategic exchanges' were invaluable and while leaders disagreed on 'a number of issues' it came from an 'effort to find common solutions to some of these problems.' Yet Carney was careful and guarded when he defended his controversial decision to invite Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, describing him as an important world leader with whom Canada had to re-engage on law enforcement issues, trade and immigration issues. But Carney refused to answer directly about whether he raised the 'murder' case of Hardeep Singh Nijjar's alleged shooting death at the direction of Indian government agents. At the end, the G7 issued a number of other joint G7 statements which the U.S. to. They pledged co-operation and action to harness the power of artificial intelligence and quantum computing, to ramp up efforts including working with social media platforms and possible sanctions to counter migrant smuggling. The G7 leaders condemned transnational repression, vowing to create a new digital detection 'academy' to support potential targets. They agreed to address wildfires through mitigation and adaptation, construction of resilient infrastructure, to share data. Two other statements were issued on a new a critical minerals action plan, which was also endorsed by Australia, India and South Korea, and a Kananaskis Wildfires Charter endorsed by Australia, India, Mexico, South Korea, and South Africa. Politics Headlines Newsletter Get the latest news and unmatched insights in your inbox every evening Error! Sorry, there was an error processing your request. There was a problem with the recaptcha. Please try again. Please enter a valid email address. Sign Up Yes, I'd also like to receive customized content suggestions and promotional messages from the Star. You may unsubscribe at any time. By signing up, you agree to our terms of use and privacy policy. This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google privacy policy and terms of service apply. Politics Headlines Newsletter You're signed up! You'll start getting Politics Headlines in your inbox soon. Want more of the latest from us? Sign up for more at our newsletter page.
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Japan records trade deficit as exports suffer from Trump's tariffs
TOKYO (AP) — Japan's exports fell in May as shipments of autos to the U.S. dropped nearly 25% from a year earlier due to higher tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump. Exports fell 1.7% year-on-year, which was less than the decline analysts had forecast, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday. Imports sank 7.7%, reflecting weakening domestic demand and worse than the 2% fall recorded in April. The trade deficit in May was 637.6 billion yen, or $4.4 billion. Japan has yet to reach a deal with Trump on resolving the tariffs issue, with Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba saying after he met with the U.S. president at the Group of Seven summit in Canada earlier this week that the two sides were unable to agree on some points. Trump has imposed a 25% additional tariff on Japanese autos and a 24% tariff on other goods. He recently said the auto tariff may become even higher. Ishiba has emphasized that Japan is an important ally in a key bilateral defense alliance with Washington and that he is pushing to protect his own country's national interests. The auto industry is a pillar of Japan's economy, and Japan exports more than a million vehicles to the U.S. a year. Tokyo has repeatedly stressed that automakers like Toyota and Honda produce cars in North America, contributing to the economy and creating jobs. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. ___ Yuri Kageyama is on Threads
Winnipeg Free Press
3 hours ago
- Winnipeg Free Press
Firms led by US military veterans deliver aid in Africa and Gaza, alarming humanitarian groups
ON A PLANE OVER UPPER NILE STATE, South Sudan (AP) — Swooping low over the banks of a Nile River tributary, an aid flight run by retired American military officers released a stream of food-stuffed sacks over a town emptied by fighting in South Sudan, a country wracked by conflict. Last week's air drop was the latest in a controversial development — private contracting firms led by former U.S. intelligence officers and military veterans delivering aid to some of the world's deadliest conflict zones, in operations organized with governments that are combatants in the conflicts. The moves are roiling the global aid community, which warns of a more militarized, politicized and profit-seeking trend that could allow governments or combatants to use life-saving aid to control hungry civilian populations and advance war aims. In South Sudan and Gaza, two for-profit U.S. companies led by American national security veterans are delivering aid in operations backed by the South Sudanese and Israeli governments. The American contractors say they're putting their security, logistics and intelligence skills to work in relief operations. Fogbow, the U.S. company that carried out last week's air drops over South Sudan, says it aims to be a 'humanitarian' force. 'We've worked for careers, collectively, in conflict zones. And we know how to essentially make very difficult situations work,' said Fogbow President Michael Mulroy, a retired CIA officer and former senior defense official in the first Trump administration, speaking on the airport tarmac in Juba, South Sudan's capital. But the U.N. and many leading non-profit groups say U.S. contracting firms are stepping into aid distribution with little transparency or humanitarian experience, and, crucially, without commitment to humanitarian principles of neutrality and operational independence in war zones. 'What we've learned over the years of successes and failures is there's a difference between a logistics operation and a security operation, and a humanitarian operation,' said Scott Paul, a director at Oxfam America. ''Truck and chuck' doesn't help people,' Paul said. 'It puts people at risk.' 'We don't want to replace any entity' Fogbow took journalists up in a cargo plane to watch their team drop 16 tons of beans, corn and salt for South Sudan's Upper Nile state town of Nasir. Residents fled homes there after fighting erupted in March between the government and opposition groups. Mulroy acknowledged the controversy over Fogbow's aid drops, which he said were paid for by the South Sudanese government. But, he maintained: 'We don't want to replace any entity' in aid work. Shared roots in Gaza and U.S. intelligence Fogbow was in the spotlight last year for its proposal to use barges to bring aid to Gaza, where Israeli restrictions were blocking overland deliveries. The United States focused instead on a U.S. military effort to land aid via a temporary pier. Since then, Fogbow has carried out aid drops in Sudan and South Sudan, east African nations where wars have created some of the world's gravest humanitarian crises. Fogbow says ex-humanitarian officials are also involved, including former U.N. World Food Program head David Beasley, who is a senior adviser. Operating in Gaza, meanwhile, Safe Reach Solutions, led by a former CIA officer and other retired U.S. security officers, has partnered with the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a U.S.-backed nonprofit that Israel says is the linchpin of a new aid system to wrest control from the U.N., which Israel says has been infiltrated by Hamas, and other humanitarian groups. Starting in late May, the American-led operation in Gaza has distributed food at fixed sites in southern Gaza, in line with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's stated plan to use aid to concentrate the territory's more than 2 million people in the south, freeing Israel to fight Hamas elsewhere. Aid workers fear it's a step toward another of Netanyahu's public goals, removing Palestinians from Gaza in 'voluntary' migrations. Since then, several hundred Palestinians have been killed and hundreds more wounded in near daily shootings as they tried to reach aid sites, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Witnesses say Israeli troops regularly fire heavy barrages toward the crowds in an attempt to control them. The Israeli military has denied firing on civilians. It says it fired warning shots in several instances, and fired directly at a few 'suspects' who ignored warnings and approached its forces. It's unclear who is funding the new operation in Gaza. No donor has come forward, and the U.S. says it's not funding it. In response to criticism over its Gaza aid deliveries, Safe Reach Solutions said it has former aid workers on its team with 'decades of experience in the world's most complex environments' who bring 'expertise to the table, along with logisticians and other experts.' South Sudan's people ask: Who's gett ing our aid drops? Last week's air drop over South Sudan went without incident, despite fighting nearby. A white cross marked the drop zone. Only a few people could be seen. Fogbow contractors said there were more newly returned townspeople on previous drops. Fogbow acknowledges glitches in mastering aid drops, including one last year in Sudan's South Kordofan region that ended up with too-thinly-wrapped grain sacks split open on the ground. After gaining independence from Sudan in 2011, South Sudan has struggled to emerge from a civil war that killed nearly 400,000 people. Rights groups say its government is one of the world's most corrupt, and until now has invested little in quelling the dire humanitarian crisis. South Sudan said it engaged Fogbow for air drops partly because of the Trump administration's deep cuts in U.S. Agency for International Development funding. Humanitarian Minister Albino Akol Atak said the drops will expand to help people in need throughout the country. But two South Sudanese groups question the government's motives. 'We don't want to see a humanitarian space being abused by military actors … under the cover of a food drop,' said Edmund Yakani, head of the Community Empowerment for Progress Organization, a local civil society group. Asked about suspicions the aid drops were helping South Sudan's military aims, Fogbow's Mulroy said the group has worked with the U.N. World Food Program to make sure 'this aid is going to civilians.' 'If it wasn't going to civilians, we would hope that we would get that feedback, and we would cease and desist,' Mulroy said. In a statement, WFP country director Mary-Ellen McGroarty said: 'WFP is not involved in the planning, targeting or distribution of food air-dropped' by Fogbow on behalf of South Sudan's government, citing humanitarian principles. A 'business-driven model' Longtime humanitarian leaders and analysts are troubled by what they see as a teaming up of warring governments and for-profit contractors in aid distribution. When one side in a conflict decides where and how aid is handed out, and who gets it, 'it will always result in some communities getting preferential treatment,' said Jan Egeland, executive director of the Norwegian Refugee Council. Sometimes, that set-up will advance strategic aims, as with Netanyahu's plans to move Gaza's civilians south, Egeland said. The involvement of soldiers and security workers, he added, can make it too 'intimidating' for some in need to even try to get aid. Until now, Western donors always understood those risks, Egeland said. But pointing to the Trump administration's backing of the new aid system in Gaza, he asked: 'Why does the U.S. … want to support what they have resisted with every other war zone for two generations?' Mark Millar, who has advised the U.N. and Britain on humanitarian matters in South Sudan and elsewhere, said involving private military contractors risks undermining the distinction between humanitarian assistance and armed conflict. Monday Mornings The latest local business news and a lookahead to the coming week. Private military contractors 'have even less sympathy for a humanitarian perspective that complicates their business-driven model,' he said. 'And once let loose, they seem to be even less accountable.' ___ Knickmeyer reported from Washington. Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. ___ The Associated Press receives financial support for global health and development coverage in Africa from the Gates Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
