Top diplomats from G7 countries meet in Canada as trade tensions rise with Trump

TORONTO -- Top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialized democracies are converging connected confederate Ontario arsenic tensions emergence betwixt the U.S. and accepted allies similar Canada implicit defence spending, commercialized and uncertainty implicit President Donald Trump's ceasefire program successful Gaza and efforts to extremity the Russia-Ukraine war.

Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said successful an interrogation with The Associated Press that “the narration has to proceed crossed a scope of issues” contempt commercialized pressures arsenic she prepared to big U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan connected Tuesday and Wednesday.

Anand besides invited the overseas ministers of Australia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, South Africa and Ukraine.

She said “15 overseas ministers are coming from astir the satellite to the Great White North and funnily capable connected the week of our first ample snowfall.”

“The enactment that Canada is doing is continuing to pb multilaterally successful an epoch of a greater question to protectionism and unilateralism," Anand said. “And successful an epoch of economical and geopolitical volatility.”

Canada's G7 hosting duties this twelvemonth person been marked by strained relations with its North American neighbor, predominantly implicit Trump’s imposition of tariffs connected Canadian imports. But the full bloc of allies is confronting large turbulence implicit the Republican president's demands connected commercialized and assorted proposals to halt worldwide conflicts.

One main constituent of contention has been defence spending. All G7 members but for Japan are members of NATO, and Trump has demanded that the confederation partners walk 5% of their yearly gross home merchandise connected defense. While a fig of countries person agreed, others person not. Among the G7 NATO members, Canada and Italy are furthest from that goal.

There person besides been G7 disagreements implicit the Israel-Hamas warfare successful Gaza, with Britain, Canada and France announcing they would admit a Palestinian authorities adjacent without a solution to the conflict. With the Russia-Ukraine war, astir G7 members person taken a tougher enactment connected Russia than Trump has.

The two-day gathering successful Niagara-on-the-Lake connected Lake Ontario adjacent the U.S. borderline comes aft Trump ended commercialized talks with Canada due to the fact that the Ontario provincial authorities ran an anti-tariff advertisement successful the U.S. that upset him. That followed a outpouring of acrimony, since abated, implicit Trump's insistence that Canada should go the 51st U.S. state.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney apologized for the ad and said past week that he’s acceptable to resume commercialized talks erstwhile the Americans are ready.

“The enactment that we are doing successful the G7 is astir uncovering areas wherever we tin cooperate multilaterally,” Anand said. “This speech volition proceed careless of different efforts that we are making connected the commercialized side.”

Anand said she volition person a gathering with Rubio but noted that a antithetic curate leads the U.S. commercialized file. The U.S. president has placed greater precedence connected addressing his grievances with different nations’ commercialized policies than connected collaboration with G7 allies.

“Every analyzable narration has galore interaction points," Anand said. "On the commercialized file, determination is continued enactment to beryllium done — conscionable arsenic determination is enactment to beryllium done connected the galore interaction points extracurricular the commercialized file, and that’s wherever Secretary Rubio and I travel successful due to the fact that the narration has to proceed crossed a scope of issues."

Anand said Rubio asked her during a meal gathering successful Washington past period to play a relation successful bringing countries to the array to guarantee that Trump’s Gaza ceasefire plan has longevity.

U.S. officials said Rubio, who besides whitethorn person meetings with different G7 counterparts and astatine slightest 1 of the invited non-G7 overseas ministers, would beryllium focused connected initiatives to halt warring successful Ukraine and Gaza, maritime security, Haiti, Sudan, proviso concatenation resiliency and captious minerals.

Canada’s priorities see ending the warfare successful Ukraine, Arctic information and information successful Haiti. There volition beryllium a moving luncheon connected vigor and captious minerals that are needed for thing from smartphones to combatant jets. Canada has 34 captious minerals and metals that the Pentagon is anxious for and investing successful for nationalist security.

Anand volition astir apt effort to usage the gathering to amended the moving narration with Rubio, said Daniel Béland, a governmental subject prof astatine McGill University successful Montreal.

"Yet, a cardinal origin shaping that narration is beyond her control: President Trump’s mercurial behavior,” Béland said.

“The expectations are rather low, but avoiding play and fostering basal communal crushed connected issues similar Ukraine and Russia would beryllium helpful," Béland said.

___

Follow the AP's sum of the Group of Seven astatine https://apnews.com/hub/group-of-7.