G7 leaders seek to contain Israel-Iran conflict
The Group of Seven summit has begun in Canada with world leaders scrambling to contain the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran, with US President Donald Trump reiterating his call for the two countries to start negotiating.
"They should talk, and they should talk immediately," he told reporters.
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said all G7 leaders agree they "have to find a way to de-escalate the situation" in the Middle East because the Israel-Iran conflict risks inflaming the "tinderbox" of the Gaza Strip and hurting the global economy.
Starmer said he had spoken to Trump about the issue, adding "the risk of the conflict escalating is obvious, I think, and the implications, not just for the region but globally, are really immense, so the focus has to be on de-escalation".
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters on Monday ahead of the summit beginning in the Canadian Rocky Mountains that Germany is planning to draw up a final communique proposal on the Israel-Iran conflict that will stress that "Iran must under no circumstances be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons-capable material".
But as Trump met with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, he also stressed it was a mistake to remove Russia from the organisation in 2014 and doing so had destabilised the world.
He also suggested it could be a good idea to add China to the G7.
The US president also seemed to put a greater priority on his planned emphasis on addressing his grievances with other countries' trade policies.
"Our primary focus will be trade," Trump said of his talks with Carney.
This year's G7 summit is full of combustible tensions and it is unclear how the gathered world leaders can work together to resolve them.
Trump already has hit several dozen countries with severe tariffs that risk a global economic slowdown.
There is little progress on settling the wars in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip, and now a new conflict between Israel and Iran.
"We're gathering at one of those turning points in history," Carney said.
"The world's more divided and dangerous."
But as the news media was escorted from the opening session, Carney could be heard as he turned to Trump and referenced how his remarks about the Middle East, Russia and China had already drawn attention to the summit.
"Mr President, I think you've answered a lot of questions already," Carney said.
Trump wants to focus on trade although he may have to balance those issues with the broader need by the G7 countries - which also include France, Italy and Japan - to project a united front.
Leaders who are not part of the G7 but have been invited to the summit by Carney include the heads of state of Australia, India, Ukraine, Brazil, South Africa, South Korea, Mexico and the United Arab Emirates.
The G7 briefly expanded to the G8 with Russia as a member, only for Russia to be expelled in 2014 after annexing Crimea and taking a foothold in Ukraine that preceded its 2022 invasion of the country.
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News.com.au
22 minutes ago
- News.com.au
US President Donald Trump leaves G7 Summit early, snubbing meeting with Anthony Albanese
In a brutal snub to Australia, Donald Trump has said he will leave the G7 meeting in Canada a day early, missing his first face-to-face meeting with Anthony Albanese. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said the US President would leave on Monday, local time, evening after only meeting the G7 leaders and no other nations including Australia. 'President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer,' she wrote on X. 'Much was accomplished, but because of what's going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with Heads of State.' Shortly before the announcement, Mr Trump warned 10 million Iranians to evacuate Tehran 'immediately' as a second US aircraft carrier made its way to the Middle East. Extraordinarily, Ms Leavitt's post came in the middle of a press conference in Calgary by Mr Albanese talking up the meeting and his main aims for it, including tariffs and AUKUS. The PM was asked if he was worried that due to the planned meeting being at the end of the day on Tuesday, right at the end of the G7, he might not get his 'full timeslot' with Mr Trump. 'I look forward to the meeting, I look forward to it taking place,' the PM said. It suggests the US had not informed Australia of the early departure. has reached out to Mr Albanese's office for comment. While the White House cited the Middle East crisis as the primary reason for bailing, he is not leaving immediately and will stick around long enough for dinner with other leaders and the so-called 'family photo'. It's not just Australia which will miss out on Trump face time. He was also set to meet the leaders of South Korea, South Africa, Mexico and India as well as the European Union. Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky will be bitterly disappointed he will also not get to meet Mr Trump. And while he met all the G7 leaders at various meetings on Monday, he only held in depth one-on-one discussion with Canada's PM Mark Carney – who is hosting – and the UK's Sir Kier Starmer. It is not clear of any nations, k such as Australia, will have the rushed opportunity to meet Mr Trump before he leaves on Monday night. Trump's form at the G7 summit It's not the first time Mr Trump has thrown G7 summit plans into chaos. In 2016, the forum ended in acrimony with the US President refusing to sign up to the joint communique. The Group of Seven, or G7, is group of democratic advanced economies. Along with this year's hosts Canada the G7 consists of the US, UK, Japan, Italy, France and Germany. Every year, the G7 leaders get together for a high-powered pow wow to try and set the world to rights. Australia is not part of the G7 but it's been invited along by Canadian PM Mark Carney as a special guest star. It's definitely a welcome invite for Mr Albanese but there are a lot of special guest stars this year vying for attention including South Korea, Ukraine and India. All the non-G7 leaders will be clamouring for a face-to-face sit-down with the big boys – and the hottest date in town is with Donald Trump. Mr Albanese met Canada's Mark Carney on Monday. The PM wouldn't be drawn on whether his Canadian counterpart had given him any tips on how to deal with Mr Trump. Mr Carney met the US president in the White House last month and was widely lauded for firmly pushing back on Mr Trump's '51 state' comments which have rattled its neighbour. Chief executive of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney Michael J Green said Mr Albanese should model himself not on Mr Carney but on another leader. 'The most successful Trump whisperer in the first term was the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. 'He rarely debated Trump or rushed to defend Japan's contributions.' Mr Green said the then Japanese PM 'brought every conversation back to what the US and its allies had to do together to keep ourselves secure, and how Japan was stepping up'. Albo's plans before snub Before the snub, Mr Albanese said he didn't want to pre-empt the outcomes of the meeting'. 'A successful meeting is one where I, as the Australian Prime Minister, am able to put forward our position,' he said to Essentially, Mr Albanese's elevator pitch to Mr Trump was set to be around two issues: tariffs and AUKUS. The Trump administration has whacked 10 per cent tariffs on Australian goods. That's the lowest, but no country is happy with that, especially Australia which buys more from the US than it sells to it. Then there's the far steeper tariffs Mr Trump has imposed on steel and aluminium. 'We see tariffs as acts of economic self-harm by the country imposing them' said Mr Albanese, referring to the US. 'I would hope that over a period of time the United States revisits that position'. The PM added that when it came to metal tariffs 'no new steel production facilities have appeared since January 20 in the United States, the exports are still going in there, they're just paying more for them'. Bringing down these tariffs would be a win but Canberra will be less certain they can get the US to budge on the 10 per cent 'baseline' import tax. Notably the UK, the only country so far to have done a deal with the US, didn't manage to entirely wipe out the baseline tariffs Talking to PM Carney on Monday in Kananaskis, Mr Trump pointedly said he was 'a tariff person'. That doesn't sound like someone who will scrap them altogether. AUKUS could be choppy waters with the US announcing a review of the three-way submarine pact with Australia and the UK. Conceivably, although Canberra insists it's unlikely, the US could withdraw from the deal altogether. 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Israel strikes state TV after Iran missiles kill eight
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Sky News AU
24 minutes ago
- Sky News AU
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and US President Donald Trump's meeting called off as US leader leaves G7 early
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's much-anticipated first meeting with US President Donald Trump has been abruptly cancelled. It comes after the White House announced that President Trump would depart the G7 Summit in Canada early due to rising tensions in the Middle East. The bilateral meeting was scheduled to take place around 11am Wednesday (AEST), but President Trump will leave before then. White House spokeswoman Caroline Levitt confirmed in a social media post that President Trump would leave Canada on Monday night local time. 'President Trump had a great day at the G7, even signing a major trade deal with the United Kingdom and Prime Minister Keir Starmer,' she said. 'Much was accomplished, but because of what's going on in the Middle East, President Trump will be leaving tonight after dinner with the heads of state.' Mr Albanese will be in attendance of the heads of state dinner, and may have the chance to speak briefly with President Trump. According to sources in the government, there was a fear that the Middle East crisis could cause President Trump to leave before the meeting. Australian Ambassador to the United States Kevin Rudd had worked for months to get the meeting organised. The development comes as a diplomatic blow for Mr Albanese, who had been urged to arrange the meeting for months. Speaking at a press conference in Kananaskis, Canada on Monday—prior to the cancellation—Mr Albanese said he looked forward to a 'constructive' dialogue. The meeting was set to be dominated by discussions about the AUKUS defence pact and US-imposed tariffs. Asked what a successful meeting would look like, Mr Albanese told reporters it would be one where he put forward the country's 'national interests'. That opportunity now appears to have been lost—at least in the immediate term. While officials have not ruled out future talks via phone or at another international forum, no replacement meeting has yet been scheduled. More to come.
