Canada, hosting the G7 meeting, may have to wait until next month for its tariffs deal with the US. But in Kananaskis, in the blue shadows of the Rocky Mountains, the UK-US tariffs deal was formalised, the latest vindication of Sir Keir Starmer’s softly-softly approach to Donald Trump.
Trump, holding a folder containing the deal during a photocall, dropped some sheets of paper to the ground. No wonder Starmer scrabbled to pick them up. It was hard to tell what was more at risk: Britannia’s dignity or the seam of the Prime Minister’s trousers.
In Washington DC, British diplomats rejoiced at the news and marked it by shaving off their “tariff beards”. A US sports trend, the play-off beard is a superstition practiced by male athletes who don’t shave during early rounds of competitions for fear of jeopardising their chances of a win. Unexpectedly, it had now been adopted by British officials.
But the diplomats can’t go clean-shaven just yet. That’s because the UK’s struggling steel industry received no relief, despite earlier promises of a tariff reduction from 25 per cent to zero. Even though the UK escaped Trump’s 50 per cent levy on steel from last month, businesses have nonetheless seen a sharp decrease in US orders.
The other concern is connected to Tata, which, although headquartered in India, is Britain’s biggest steel manufacturer. It’s currently transitioning from traditional blast furnaces to greener electric-arc furnaces at Port Talbot in Wales, with projected completion by late 2027.
While there is no cliff edge for negotiations on steel, British officials are hopeful of a breakthrough with the US Commerce Department by 9 July. That’s the deadline by which all the nations affected by the tariffs must reach a deal with the American administration or face a 50 per cent levy.
Back in Canada on Monday, the G7 posed for the so-called family photo, where leaders grip and grin for the cameras. Trump asked the assembled reporters whether they had questions for anyone else. No one did. It was a humblebrag dressed up as a question; the power rests in me and with me, he implied.
With that in mind, Carney chose to eschew a final communique completely in favour of six short joint statements on wildfires, critical minerals and other key agenda items. The G7 managed to get the US to sign up to “de-escalation of hostilities in the Middle East, including a ceasefire in Gaza” – but could not get a joint statement calling for a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Meanwhile, on Tuesday Israel indicated it would continue its military operations against Iran’s missile and nuclear programmes regardless of any potential negotiations involving the US, even as it continued its bombardment of Iran.
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In Kananaskis, Starmer told reporters there was “nothing the President said that suggests he’s about to get involved in this conflict” and denied Trump’s decision to leave the G7 early left the other leaders impotent in their ability to enact any real movement.
Asked if it looked imminent that the US would get involved, militarily, in the conflict – and whether this would spiral into war – Starmer said: “I don’t think anything that the President said either here or elsewhere suggests that.”
But Trump’s treatment of the G7 throws up wider questions about the bloc’s future. In Canada, Trump again grumbled about Russia’s banishment from the former G8.
Who Trump likes and who he dislikes is a bizarre new take on old-fashioned ideas of diplomacy between kings and not nation states.
It also puts next week’s Nato summit in jeopardy. Trump may deem it simply a waste of his time.
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