Today marks the opening of a two-day G7 summit in La Malbaie, Canada. The summit will be attended by representatives of the G7: PM Justin Trudeau (Canada), President Emmanuel Macron (France), Chancellor Angela Merkel (Germany), newly-elected PM Giuseppe Conte (Italy), PM Shinzo Abe (Japan), PM Theresa May (UK), President Trump (US), and the President of the European Commission Jean-Claude Juncker together with the President of the European Council Donald Tusk (European Union). The G7 notably excludes Russia, who is otherwise part of G8 summits.
As usual, the participants in the summit are expected to discuss strategies for handling some of the world’s biggest problems that require international cooperation. On the agenda for this meeting are issues such as climate change, gender equality, diversity, and the labor market (strengthening the middle class, helping people from vulnerable sectors get prequalified, and more).
Even before the official start of the summit, Donald Trump got involved in a new conflict. The President of the United States found himself in a Twitter argument with both President Macron and Justin Trudeau. Macron criticized the recent protectionist policies of Trump, saying that the rest of the G7 can reach an agreement among themselves. Trump took offense at that and in turn posted about what he considers has been unfair treatment to US goods from both the European Union and Canada for years. According to official reports, Trump even considered not attending the summit at all, but in the end he decided to go. He will be skipping the second half of it, however, which would deal with climate change. Some see this as Trump trying to avoid responsibility for his decisions, considering that topics likely to come up during the summit include him leaving the Paris agreement, the Iran nuclear deal, and most recently imposing tariffs on the European Union, Canada, Mexico, and China, among others.
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel also stated that she expects a lot of turmoil during this G7 meeting. Traditionally all of the participants sign an agreement on key issues at the end of each summit, but Merkel suggested that right now this might not even be possible, considering everyone’s major disagreements with the United States. President Macron tweeted that a 6-country agreement (excluding the United States) could be a possibility. European leaders over the past year have condemned most of Trump’s foreign policy decisions and repeatedly tried to make him reconsider his position on the Paris accord and the Iran nuclear deal, as well as on steel and aluminum tariffs, but all of their efforts failed. The Canadian PM Justin Trudeau also stated that while he has been very respectful so far, he intends to be firm with Trump and what the international community views are his unfair foreign policies. The last time when the United States found itself so isolated was during Bush’s presidency and the war in Iraq, but then at least the United Kingdom took the American side in the argument. In a way, this is a first for the United States.
Things surrounding Trump are additionally hectic because of his upcoming meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. That is set to take place on Tuesday, June 12, in Singapore. With the massive time difference, President Trump will be in a hurry and would likely not return to the White House after the G7 summit but will fly to Singapore directly from Canada. Overall, it is safe to say there will be an abundance of international news in the next few days, which may add quite a bit of volatility to key trading instruments like the dollar, the euro, the Japanese yen, and more.
