Ahead of the G7 summit, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and US President Donald Trump are in closed-door talks trying to hammer out a new trade deal and avoid a row between the host country and the world’s biggest economy.
Recalling that the 50% tariffs have dealt another blow to the Canadian steel industry, the largest supplier of this product to the US, experts point out that there is still hope for a trade deal between the parties by the time President Trump meets with Prime Minister Trudeau at the G7 summit.
On the eve of the G7 summit, Germany’s new Vice-Chancellor and Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil spoke about the threats to the German and European economies posed by the US tariffs.
“Our economic performance is stagnating, and this is due to serious uncertainties caused by trade conflicts and new US tariffs. That is why it is so important that we in Europe respond with unity and determination to advance negotiations with the US. This is my clear message to the European Commission,” Lars Klingbeil said.
After four rounds of negotiations on trade tariffs in April and May, the deadlock in US-Japan relations remains. “At this stage, we are not at a point where we can say whether the gap between our positions has narrowed or not,” Japanese Minister for Economic Revitalisation Ryosei Akazawa said. However, he expressed hope that progress on a new trade agreement between Washington and Tokyo would still be achieved before the meeting in Kananaskis.
Making a last-ditch effort to smooth over differences between G7 summit participants, Carney was also forced to personally defuse a scandal in his country’s relations with India and persuade Prime Minister Narendra Modi not to cancel his trip to Canada, where he is due to arrive as a guest at the summit.
Last week, leading Indian media reported that Narendra Modi might miss the G7 summit for the first time in six years due to his country’s cool relations with Ottawa. Relations have been tense since the 2023 killing in Canada of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar, who was pushing for Punjab to split from India.
Following leaks from government sources in Delhi about the Indian leader’s reluctance to travel to unfriendly Canada, Mark Carney called Narendra Modi on June 6 and confirmed his invitation to Canmore. Only after that did the Indian leader announce his readiness to attend the G7 summit and work with the Canadian government “guided by mutual respect and common interests.”
Sharp disagreements over the rules and principles on which trade and economic relations between Western allies should be based are not the only crack that has split the G7.
The second cause of discord was the question of further support for Ukraine and the tightening of sanctions against Russia. The troublemaker was once again Donald Trump, who is out of step with his Western allies.
Speaking with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who visited Washington at the end of May, Trump expressed the view that the G8 format was much more effective than the G7 format and that the US should not abandon it by severing relations with Russia. “The G7 used to be the G8, but they made a brilliant decision to kick Russia out,” Trump said ironically, recalling the political legacy of President Obama’s Democratic administration. According to him, the Ukrainian crisis would not have started if Russia had remained part of this “Western” club.
