The members of the G7 (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) will meet in Taormina, Italy, on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 May – a meeting in which US President Donald Trump will participate for the first time.
This summit between the leaders of the seven most powerful economies in the world, which will also be attended by European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, is turning out to be uncertain.
As one European source assures, the general resolve is certainly to maintain stability and unity at this informal meeting between world leaders. However, the points of divergence between the US administration and EU leaders are real and will be the subject of lively debate.
The issue of implementing the Paris Agreement. The climate issue is one of the main points of friction between the different G7 partners. When Trump was running in the 2016 US presidential campaign, he was very critical of the Paris Agreement on the Climate. And during the preparatory meetings, the US has refused to give its position on the climate, a diplomatic source from one of the G7 countries has stated.
While the statement is traditionally recorded several days before the meeting at sherpa level, discussions will surely take place on the sidelines of the summit in order to finalise the text on the issue of the climate.
The European partners would like the US to remain party to this agreement, a diplomatic source told EUROPE. Discussions will thus focus on this point at the two-day meeting in Sicily.
The members of the G7 will try to convince the US president of the need for such agreements and of the economic opportunities resulting from it, a European source stated.
Several calls have been launched in recent weeks for the G7 and G20 to implement the Paris Agreement in the face of uncertainty about US participation in it. Among the calls was a letter from over 200 international institutional investors dated 8 May (see EUROPE 11783).
Discussions on free trade. The issues of free trade and protectionism provoked lively debates at the recent G20 Finance meetings (see EUROPE 11749), with the US refusing to commit clearly on multilateralism. This will also be one of the themes for discussion at this summit between the members of the G7. While the European Union maintains its position for the development of free trade and multilateralism, the Trump administration has challenged this principle several times since coming to power.
At the end of March, Trump signed two executive orders aiming to examine the causes of, and countries responsible for, the US trade deficit. France, Germany and Italy were especially targeted (see EUROPE 11760). Trump also signed another executive order at the end of April on the abuses and violations of trade agreements, in order to examine the agreements signed by the US and the consequences of his country belonging to the WTO (see EUROPE 11782).
For the members of the G7 it will thus be a question of finding common language for maintaining international trade.
Convergence on foreign policy. The debates between the members of the G7 will also focus on foreign policy, which seems to be less problematic than the two points mentioned above, a European source confirmed. Four big subjects will be addressed: Syria, Libya, North Korea and relations with Russia. On the latter issue, the different parties all want the Russian authorities to implement the Minsk agreements, and they all confirm their position taken at the G7 summits in 2015 and 2016.
The members of the G7 will also meet their counterparts from Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and Tunisia, as well as the president of the African Union (who is also the president of Guinea).
While the issues of climate and trade will thus form the subject of lively debates at the G7, these themes will first be addressed when Trump, Juncker and Tusk meet in Brussels on Thursday 25 May (see other article). (Original version in French by Lucas Tripoteau avec Camille-Cerise Gessant)