Trade, conflicts cloud G7 summit

KANANASKIS, Canada — Leaders of the Group of Seven countries are gathering in the Canadian Rockies for a summit overshadowed by the US administration's trade war and the world's escalating conflicts.

Originally scheduled to begin on Sunday, the summit has been shortened to two days — Monday and Tuesday.

The G7 is an informal bloc comprising seven of the world's advanced economies, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain, and the United States, along with the European Union. The summit serves as a platform to coordinate responses to major challenges.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is hosting this year's summit, has extended invitations to leaders from several non-G7 countries, including Ukraine, Australia, India, South Korea, Mexico, Brazil, the United Arab Emirates and South Africa.

This time, US President Donald Trump has already hit several dozen nations with severe tariffs that risk a global economic slowdown.

With other leaders wanting to talk to Trump in an effort to talk him out of imposing tariffs, the summit risks being a series of conversations rather than a show of unity.

Asked if he planned to announce any trade agreements at the G7 meeting as he left the White House on Sunday, Trump said: "We have our trade deals. All we have to do is send a letter: 'This is what you're going to have to pay.' But I think we'll have a few, few new trade deals."

UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer said early on Monday: "We are in final stages of implementing trade deal with the US, expect it to be completed 'very soon'."

Trump arrived at the international summit sporting a "Make America Great Again" hat. He was greeted by four Mounties, or members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Looming over the meeting are his inflammatory threats to make Canada the 51st state and take over Greenland.

French President Emmanuel Macron visited Greenland on Sunday for a highly symbolic stop on his way to Canada. Macron warned that Greenland is "not to be sold "nor "to be taken". "Everybody in France, the European Union thinks that Greenland is not to be sold, not to be taken," he said.

"The situation in Greenland is clearly a wake-up call for all Europeans. Let me tell you very directly that you're not alone," Macron added.

Israel's strikes on Iran and Teheran's retaliation, which appeared to catch many world leaders unawares, is the latest sign of a more volatile world.

According to two sources and a draft seen by Reuters, G7 leaders prepared a draft joint statement calling for de-escalation of the Israel-Iran conflict. Trump has not signed off on the draft however, the sources said. The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The conflict in Ukraine also stands on the agenda. Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky plans to meet with Trump on Tuesday, a reunion coming just months after their bruising Oval Office encounter.

In recent years, G7 protests have become tightly controlled affairs. Demonstrators are confined to designated spaces, often more than 100 kilometers from where world leaders meet.

The 2025 edition is no different, with protesters voicing their anger in Alberta's largest city.

Hundreds of protesters took to the streets in downtown Calgary on Sunday as the G7 leaders arrived in the city on their way to the summit in Kananaskis in the province of Alberta.

The protesters hoped to draw the attention of G7 leaders to a variety of issues.

"We're not experts on the G7. We do know that we want to communicate a few messages that Canada is not for sale," said Mary Oxendale-Spensley, a local resident. "There's water and other resources that he's got his eye on," she said.

Trish Clark, calling herself "a raging granny in Calgary", said, "We're a sovereign country. … We love our country, and we want to stay as our own country."

"I'm here because I'm an Indigenous person," said Emrys Peacock, who came by bus from British Columbia's Okanagan region.

Agencies - Xinhua