The G7 leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the U.S., along with the European Union, are convening in the resort of Kananaskis in the Canadian Rockies until Tuesday. But beyond the serene and picturesque mountain setting, they confront challenges.
With an escalating Israel-Iran conflict, which is spiking global oil prices, the summit in Canada is seen as a vital moment to try and restore a semblance of unity between democratic powerhouses.
That will not be easy. After years of consensus, the traditional allies have scrambled to keep Trump engaged and maintain unity. Canada has abandoned any effort to adopt an all-encompassing comprehensive communique to avert a repeat of a 2018 summit in Quebec, when Trump instructed the U.S. delegation to withdraw its approval of the final communique after leaving.
Talks on Monday will centre around the economy, advancing trade deals, and China. Efforts to reach an agreement to lower the G7 price cap on Russian oil even if Trump decided to opt out have been complicated by the surge in oil prices since Israel launched strikes on Iran on June 12, two diplomatic sources said.
"We are united. Nobody wants to see Iran get a nuclear weapon and everyone wants discussions and negotiations to restart," France's President Emmanuel Macron told reporters in Greenland on Sunday before travelling to Canada.
Trump said on Sunday many calls and meetings were taking place to broker peace.
Highlighting the unease among some of Washington's allies, Trump spoke on Saturday with Russian President Vladimir Putin and suggested the Russian leader could play a mediation role.
A European diplomat said Trump's suggestion showed that Russia, despite being kicked out of the group in 2014 after annexing Crimea, was very much on U.S. minds.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte will attend the summit on Tuesday.
"The G7 should have the objective for us to converge again, for Ukraine to get a ceasefire to lead to a robust and lasting peace, and in my view it's a question of seeing whether President Trump is ready to put forward much tougher sanctions on Russia," Macron said.
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