Some Headway but No Breakthrough at G7 Summit in Canada

Following the uproar of the last couple of weeks after President Donald Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminium imports from the EU and Canada, a far more cordial tone was struck when the leaders all assembled in Quebec for the current round of G7 talks. While there were expectations of a breakthrough for all the drama of the last couple of weeks, the leaders came out of their discussions with a positive take and much optimism about reaching a more amicable settlement to recent issues.

Data exchanges between Trump and the other leaders resulted in the latter trying to illustrate the actual impact of Trump’s tariffs, in an attempt to move towards a resolution that was more economically viable to all parties. However, Trump retorted with his own data, and stuck to his position that the United States was weakening its position on International Trade, which was a detrimental position that he would not allow to persist. According to officials present, it was only after Trump had met briefly with French President Emmanuel Macron, that he seemed more positive about a result to these discussions that would be of mutual benefit to all G7 member states.

Some observers perceived the real threat of this current G7 summit as being the potential dissolution of this 42-year-old association of the world’s largest economies. Given the political rhetoric that was making the news in the days leading up to this meeting, there seemed a very real possibility that, among other things, the US would end up isolating itself from this group. However, nothing of this sort seems to have come to pass, and while a major breakthrough may not be on the cards just yet, the US and its allies in this group of economic superpowers seem to have resolved all major differences at this time.

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