Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) arrived at the Kananaski summit on Sunday evening (local time) in the Canadian Rocky Mountains. For him it is the first participation in a G7 summit. “The most important goal will be: the seven largest industrialized nations in the world agree and they are able to act,” said Merz before he departed in Berlin.
The escalation between Israel and Iran will be “very high on the agenda,” said Merz. In addition, a “sign of the greatest possible unity” for the Ukraine attacked by Russia should assume the summit. In the customs dispute with the Trump government, Merz hopes for a “clear perspective for an agreement”.
It is expected with special excitement how far US President Donald Trump is ready for coordination and cooperation with the other six states at the summit. A short bilateral meeting of Trump with Chancellor Merz on the edge of the summit was expected for Monday. Trump arrived in Canada late in the evening (local time).
France’s President Emmanuel Macron announced that he would directly address Trump in Kananaski to how far this sanctions against Russia was ready. EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, who also takes part in the summit, called the G7 in Kananaskis to do without protectionism. The trade between the partners must be “fair, predictable and open”, said von der Leyen on Sunday evening.
Meanwhile, hundreds of people demonstrate in the Canadian capital Calgary on the occasion of the G7 summit. The war in the Gaza Strip was the dominant topic for around 500 people who gathered in a designated protest zone in the center of the city. No protests were approved in Kananaskis, the venue of the summit.
The G7 Group, founded 50 years ago, belong to the USA, Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and this year’s host country Canada. The seven countries stand for more than 40 percent of global economic power, but only for ten percent of the world’s population.
The G7 traditionally also sees itself as the value of the great democratic economic powers. Since Trump’s return to the presidency, there have been large differences between the USA and the rest of the G7 countries, for example in dealing with Russia and Ukraine, in customs policy, and also on topics such as climate protection and development aid.
In contrast to G7 summit, the Canadian hosts want to do without a comprehensive joint declaration of final all seven countries-probably also because of the difficult coordination with the USA. Most recently, a G7 summit ended in 2018 without a declaration of shooting. At that time, Trump had initially agreed to the declaration, but shortly afterwards withdrawn his signature by Twitter message.
Instead, there should only be a few explanations of subject topics in Kananaskis such as migration, artificial intelligence, rare raw materials and forest fires. On Monday, the first day of the summit, the focus is initially on business issues. The summit is opened with a session on the state of the global economy. At dinner, the global herd of crisis should come up.
On Tuesday it is initially about the situation in the Ukraine attacked by Russia. As a guest, the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj will take part, who wants more support for his country and greater pressure on aggressor Russia. After that, other heads of state and government are added to talk about the topic of energy security. Guests are expected from Mexico, Brazil, India and South Korea.
Before Merz’s departure, the Federal Government had made it clear that it would hardly expect tangible results of the summit. “The most important thing is to send a signal of unity as a G7,” it said from the Chancellery. The summit could provide information on how US President Trump now behaves “in a team situation” in his second term. In the search for paths in the large economic and foreign policy issues, the summit only has “stages”, it said in Berlin.
