BANFF, Canada — Leaders of the world’s largest economies and democracies proceeded with their agenda at the 50th Group of Seven summit in Canada, despite President Donald Trump’s early exit.
But regardless of efforts to present a united, unperturbed front, the absence of Trump, who was the focal point of the summit on Monday, was felt amid war and trade negotiations.
In Trump’s chair to discuss topics from the Middle East crises and the Russia–Ukraine conflict to tariffs was Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. Bessent also represented Trump in a photo of the G7 leaders and invited guests, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Mark Rutte. But as leaders exchanged pleasantries before tougher conversations were had behind closed doors, their public events were quieter and more subdued without the hubbub that follows the president.
(Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
Although the G7 without Trump rendered the group the G6, a concern before this week’s summit because of challenges reaching consensus with Trump in the past, diplomats sought to downplay the significance of the president’s absence.
“These things happen,” one diplomat told the Washington Examiner. “Heads of state often need to adjust their schedules to attend to urgent or unforeseen matters, and the U.S. president is no exception. While today’s meeting was a valuable opportunity, we trust there will be an appropriate moment down the line for the conversation to take place.”
Another pointed to French President Emmanuel Macron telling reporters he encouraged Trump to return to Washington to negotiate a ceasefire between Israel and Iran as the two countries engage in strikes, as Israel seeks to irrevocably destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Trump later criticized “publicity seeking” Macron for “mistakenly” saying he departed the G7 “to work on a ‘ceasefire.’”
“Wrong! He has no idea why I am now on my way to Washington, but it certainly has nothing to do with a Cease Fire,” Trump wrote on social media. “Much bigger than that. Whether purposely or not, Emmanuel always gets it wrong.”
Trump went on to amplify his complaints with reporters accompanying him on Air Force One, repeating that Macron “doesn’t get it right too often.”
Multiple diplomats highlighted their leaders’ meetings with Trump in the brief time he was in Canada. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba posted photographs of their engagements on social media. Both von der Leyen and Ishiba have so far been unable to broker trade deals with the president.
“The G7 Summit is an opportunity for good and deep talks between partners,” von der Leyen wrote. “I discussed with President Trump critical issues, from Ukraine to trade. On trade, we instructed the teams to accelerate their work to strike a good and fair deal. Let’s get it done.”
“I met with President Trump of the United States,” Ishiba added. “We discussed promoting a free and open Indo-Pacific and further strengthening the Japan-U.S. Alliance. We also had a candid exchange of views on the series of U.S. tariff measures and agreed to instruct the Ministers in charge to advance the consultations.”
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is in trade negotiations with Trump, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer seemed to fare best with more formal meetings with Trump that resulted in the president’s praise.
But Trump’s comments to reporters in response to a question about whether the United Kingdom should be concerned about more tariffs despite signing a trade deal with the U.S. underscored why leaders had hoped to spend time with the president, particularly because he has concentrated power in the White House‘s Oval Office.
“The U.K. is very well protected,” Trump said. “Do you know why? Because I like them. That is why. The prime minister has done a great job. I want to tell that to the people of the United Kingdom. He has done a very good job. He is not like other people. They have been talking about this deal for six years. He has done what they have not been able to do.”
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum was to have a formal meeting with Trump at the G7 on Tuesday before the president upended their plans. The White House confirmed a telephone call between the two leaders on Tuesday afternoon, but did not immediately respond to a request regarding the prospect of a counterpart between Trump and Zelensky, the other formal meeting Trump was supposed to have on Tuesday.
“It was a good call,” a White House official told reporters.
Vincent Rigby, a former Global Affairs Canada and Department of National Defence government official, remembered that the last time Trump was in Canada for a G7 summit, he also left in a “huff.”
After the 2018 Charlevoix G7 summit, Trump unendorsed the leaders’ communique because then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau told reporters during his post-summit press conference that he would retaliate against the president’s first administration tariffs.
“From a Canadian perspective, yeah, I think there’ll be a disappointment that he’s left early,” Rigby told the Washington Examiner. “You could make the argument that the discussions with the remaining members of the G7 will actually go a lot smoother without him in the room.”
But the now-McGill University public policy professor said “the G7 as a collective entity without the United States is not really the G7,” asking, as others have, why Trump could not undertake his duties as commander in chief from Canada.
“For other adversaries of the West and of the United States, there may well be an opportunity to say, ‘Hey, that’s interesting. The U.S. president just gets up and leaves. That shows you how much cohesion and unanimity there is.’ And they’ll undoubtedly spin it that he’s leaving because he doesn’t want to talk to his G7 partners about certain topics,” Rigby continued.
“Yes, without a doubt, Iran, Israel, it’s an incredibly, incredibly important issue, but that he couldn’t have had discussions with the Israeli leaders or he couldn’t continue to tweet from Canada, those sorts of things, I mean it strains belief to be honest with you.”
Trump signaled he wanted more secure communications back at the White House after press secretary Karoline Leavitt announced he was departing early.
“Just be a little bit more well-versed,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One Monday night. “Not having to use telephones so much because I don’t believe in telephones because people like you listen to them. So, being on the scene is much better and we did everything I had to do on the G7. We had a good G7.”
That excludes remaining at the summit to negotiate a leaders’ statement on Russia and Ukraine, an outcome Trump stymied on the third anniversary of the war in February because he did not want to refer to Russia as the “aggressor” in the conflict. Trump did endorse the leaders’ statement on Israel and Iran, an outcome the White House had earlier dismissed, with other statements issued on transnational repression, migrant smuggling, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, critical minerals, and wildfires.
Republican strategist John Feehery defended Trump’s decision regarding the G7, contending the other leaders “appreciate why he left.”
“Avoiding World War III is a good cause,” Feehery told the Washington Examiner.
Shortly after it was announced Trump was leaving, Carney did tell reporters he was “very grateful for the president’s presence and I fully understand why he must return.”
ZELENSKY LEFT BEHIND AS TRUMP EXITS G7 SUMMIT TO ATTEND TO NEW WAR
During his own post-summit press conference, Carney emphasized how the Israel-Iran war is an “exceptional” situation when pushed on Trump’s absence.
“It’s difficult to manage a military crisis,” he told reporters. “It’s a serious situation, it’s a military situation, and it’s also a very fluid and volatile situation, and that was Mr. Trump’s opinion. Mr Trump felt it was better for him to be in Washington, and I can understand that. I totally understand the decision that he took.”