1) (Updated) Donald Trump leaving G7 summit early because of crisis in Middle East

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Dylan Robertson, June 16, 2025

Escalating violence in the Middle East overshadowed movement on trade deals within the G7 on Monday, as U.S. President Donald Trump announced late in the day that he would be leaving the leaders’ summit early because of the crisis in Israel and Iran.

The abrupt plan to depart was announced by White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on social media, and Trump confirmed it at the end of a group photo with other G7 leaders before their working dinner.

“I have to be back, it’s very important,” he told reporters. “I want to just thank our great hosts, thank you to Canada, but you probably see what I see.”

Israel began deploying warplanes and drones to attack nuclear sites and other energy infrastructure in Iran on Friday, and the two countries have traded fire since then. As Trump prepared to leave the summit, Iran launched another round of attacks on Israel.

Unlike Trump’s early departure at the last G7 summit hosted in Canada seven years ago, he did not storm out in a huff.

“We had just a really great relationship with everybody,” he said. “It was really nice. I wish I could stay for tomorrow, but they understand this is big stuff.”

Carney said the leaders would do some more work over dinner. “I’m very grateful for the president’s presence and I fully understand why he must depart.”

Carney and Trump met face-to-face first thing Monday, and Carney’s office later said he and Trump agreed to a mid-July deadline for finalizing a partnership they have been negotiating for more than a month.

“Prime Minister Carney and President Trump discussed immediate trade pressures and priorities for each country’s workers and businesses, and shared updates on key issues raised in negotiations on a new economic and security relationship between Canada and the U.S.,” said Canada’s formal summary following a morning meeting between the two leaders.

The news came despite Trump telling reporters at a photo op that he and Carney have “different concepts” of what that deal might look like.

The two met privately at the summit Carney is hosting in Kananaskis, Alta. Canadian officials initially described the meeting as a productive conversation about a possible trade deal and security partnership.

But Monday afternoon, Canada’s formal summary of the meeting said Carney and Trump “agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days.”

The White House was asked to confirm its understanding of what the leaders agreed to, but did not respond.

The two leaders met after weeks of exchanging phone calls and text messages in an ongoing attempt to resolve the economic conflict triggered by Trump’s tariffs. The president said their meeting would largely surround trade.

“I’m sure we can work something out,” Trump told reporters.

“I’m a tariff person. I’ve always been a tariff (person). It’s simple, it’s easy, it’s precise and it just goes very quickly. And I think Mark has a more complex idea, but also very good,” Trump said.

In brief remarks, Carney welcomed Trump to the summit and wished him a happy birthday. The president turned 79 on Saturday.

“This marks the 50th birthday of the G7,” Carney said. “And the G7 is nothing without U.S. leadership.”

The summit officially began Monday. Following a welcome ceremony, Carney said while G7 countries don’t always agree, they still face shared threats in an increasingly dangerous world. 

“Nostalgia isn’t a strategy,” Carney said in his opening statement to a roundtable of G7 members.

“We will have open, frank discussions over the course of the next two days. We might not agree on absolutely every issue, but where we will co-operate, we will make an enormous difference.”

Carney’s office confirmed talks took place at the summit on a possible statement on Israel and Iran but would not disclose the nature of the discussions.

American media outlets, including CNN, reported Trump pushed back on signing such a statement. The Canadian Press could not confirm that report.

Stefan Kornelius, a spokesperson for the German government, told media at the summit that Trump and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz spoke about the Middle East.

On the potential for a joint statement on the Middle East, he said: “the goal might be to have a joint declaration by the G7 here, because that would serve a purpose that would unfold some impact.” 

“We’ll see in the end, it’ll be up to the American side to decide whether we’re going to have a G7 statement on the Middle East or not,” he said.

In a social media posts, Trump called for the immediate evacuation of the Iranian capital of Tehran and warned Tehran needed to curb its nuclear program before it was “too late.”

He said Iranian leaders would “like to talk,” but they had 60 days to reach an agreement on their nuclear ambitions and failed to do so before the Israeli aerial assault began.

Carney also met one-on-one with other G7 leaders, including French President Emmanuel Macron, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Japanese Prime Minister Ishiba Shigeru and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

He met Sunday with Starmer and Merz.

Following their meeting, Trump and Carney sat down with a wider group that included Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer.

LeBlanc and Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., told a news conference that talks with their American counterparts accelerated in recent weeks.

LeBlanc said both countries have agreed to keep details of those discussions private and to reconvene before the end of the week.

“The important thing is that we collectively think we’re making progress in coming to a deal that would be in the economic interest of both countries, but we’re not there yet,” he said.

Hillman said she has a sense the Americans are “understanding us better,” as Canadian officials call for all the tariffs to be removed.

“We have a president who is very convinced of the policy that he has around tariffs in order to achieve some of his policy goals,” she said.

“We are very convinced that applying that policy to Canada is actually detrimental to his overall goals, and we are trying to get there with him and his officials.”

Hillman and LeBlanc didn’t answer repeated questions about whether Trump again raised the idea of making Canada a U.S. state, something he has repeatedly raised for months and, with tariffs, has prompted Canadians to boycott American products and travel.

Trump stormed out of the G7 summit that Canada hosted in 2018. He pulled out of a joint leaders’ statement and issued a statement of his own, calling then-prime minister Justin Trudeau weak and dishonest. It came after Trudeau announced countermeasures against U.S. tariffs.

Trump and Trudeau had a notoriously poor relationship. On Monday, Trump said he and Carney have “a very good relationship.”

Carney’s formal summary of the meeting also said the leaders discussed summit themes, including critical minerals, defence, border security, and gun and drug smuggling.

The war in Ukraine is one of Canada’s top priorities as summit host. Carney also invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to attend.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plane touched down at the Calgary airport Monday evening and he is later set to join the summit. Leaders from South Korea, Australia, Brazil, Mexico and South Africa are also to attend sessions Tuesday, as are senior UN and World Bank officials.

Carney has been criticized for his decision to invite Modi to the gathering, as security officials have linked Modi’s government to the murder of a Canadian man two years ago. There have been protests in Calgary and Ottawa.

The summit is scheduled to wrap Tuesday, when leaders are expected to focus on foreign policy.

The G7 includes France, the United States, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom and Italy, as well as the European Union.

— With files from Sarah Ritchie and Catherine Morrison in Ottawa, Emilie Bergeron in Kananaskis and The Associated Press

2) (Updated) Carney says Trump wants to reach economic, security deal with Canada within 30 days

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Dylan Robertson, June 16, 2025.

Prime Minister Mark Carney’s office says U.S. President Donald Trump has agreed to reach a deal on a new economic and security relationship with Canada by mid-July.

Canada’s formal summary of the meeting between the two leaders this morning says Trump and Carney “agreed to pursue negotiations toward a deal within the coming 30 days.”

It says the leaders also discussed themes of the ongoing G7 summit that Carney is hosting in Alberta, including critical minerals and defence, border security and gun and drug smuggling.

Trump told reporters this morning that a trade deal with Canada would be achievable, even if he and Carney have “different concepts” of what such a deal might look like.

The president said he is a fan of tariffs but Carney has what he called “a more complex idea.”

Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s ambassador to the U.S., says talks with American counterparts have accelerated in recent weeks.

3) Tariffs, wildfires and AI on the agenda as Canada hosts world leaders at G7

Courtesy Barrie360.com and Canadian Press

By Dylan Robertson, June 15, 2025

A Canada flag, left, and an Alberta flag flap in the breeze with Mt. Kidd in the background at the site of the G7 Leaders meeting in Kananaskis, Alta., Monday, June 2, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Prime Minister Mark Carney has tried to pare down Canada’s priorities as the G7 summit host, but there’s still a lengthy list of global issues for leaders to discuss over the coming days.

“Leaders (will) meet at a moment of enormous flux globally, when tensions among G7 members are especially pronounced,” Carney’s foreign policy adviser David Angell told a panel this week.

He did not directly reference U.S. President Donald Trump, who famously walked out of the last G7 summit Canada hosted in 2018.

Here’s a look at what’s on the agenda in Kananaskis, Alta., and what to expect.

Economics

On the formal agenda, the first discussion is about the “global economic outlook,” followed by a working lunch on economic security and supply chains.

Angell said this will include a discussion on “anti-market practices by large, non-G7 economies.” China is among those countries accused of anti-market practices.

“There’s no doubt that important discussion of President Trump’s tariff strategy will take place,” he added.

John Kirton, head of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto, said the discussion will likely set the tone on how countries balance fiscal stimulus through tax cuts or possibly more defence spending along with cutting back deficits.

He said leaders will need to navigate the difficult reality that Trump’s tariffs are hurting economic growth and likely caused the downgrading of Washington’s credit ratings.

Leaders are set to discuss critical minerals, and Kirton said this might involve setting labour and environmental transparency standards for minerals acquired in fragile countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Sen. Peter Boehm, who played a central role in many G7 summits, said he expects Canada to raise the dysfunction of the World Trade Organization, though this might happen in an informal setting instead of part of the structured G7 meetings.

The WTO’s appeal body is the main global enforcer of resolutions in trade disputes, and it has been effectively stalled for years as the U.S. blocks the appointment of panel members, following frustration of how the WTO has ruled against Washington.

In 2018, Canada launched the Ottawa Group, a committee urging WTO reform made up of more than a dozen economies ranging from Kenya to Norway, but it has had limited success.

Wildfires and foreign interference

The second session taking place Monday will involve safety, particularly wildfires, foreign interference and transnational crime.

Canada is set to release a Kananaskis Wildfire Charter, spanning mitigation, response and recovery.

Kirton said discussion around the document will focus on “equipment interoperability” to allow G7 members to support each other during emergencies, as well as the use of satellite imagery to fight wildfires.

He said the topic has become “a burning issue” in part because wildfires in places like Los Angeles and across the Prairies show how the threat is relevant to Washington and its G7 peers.

Leaders might try to raise climate change, but Kirton doubts that phrase will appear in any closing statements, with Trump pushing back on the topic.

A brief circulated among G7 planners from various countries originally included the term “countering migrant smuggling and drug trafficking” but Kirton noted that the term did not appear in later drafts.

Kirton said he expects leaders to discuss tighter co-operation in combating the drug trade, given that the U.S. concern over opioids matches concerns other countries have about heroin trafficking.

‘Making the world secure’

The topic title of the Monday working dinner is broad. While such a session would normally involve conflicts in Israel and the Palestinian territories, North Korea and Sudan, analysts expect that recent strikes between Israel and Iran will dominate this discussion.

Ukrainian sovereignty

Tuesday’s working breakfast will come after G7 leaders have a chance to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and amid concerns from other G7 members that the U.S. might sign a deal from Russia that only encourages further invasion of European countries.

After that, G7 leaders have a larger meeting with the invited guests, which so far includes leaders of Australia, Brazil, India, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea, Ukraine, NATO, the United Nations and the World Bank.

It’s unclear whether Canada’s bid to raise issues of foreign interference will come up in talks with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, whose government the RCMP has linked to extortion, coercion and homicide cases.

 In January, the foreign interference inquiry’s final report said “India is the second most active” threat actor, which is “clandestinely providing illicit financial support to various Canadian politicians in an attempt to secure the election of pro-India candidates or gain influence.”

Energy security

Tuesday afternoon’s discussion is set to include making energy affordable and creating the infrastructure needed to diversify of energy sources.

Angell said “a number of key leaders” visiting the summit as guests will be part of the talks.

Carney’s office has said Canada is seeking coalitions with reliable partners to open new markets, and generate large infrastructure investments.

AI and quantum tech

Carney’s office says G7 leaders will discuss “using artificial intelligence and quantum to unleash economic growth,” though it’s not clear where in the schedule this will take place.

Experts say quantum computing could rapidly speed up processing times and allow for more accurate or efficient tasks. But they say cryptography might be needed to prevent powerful quantum computers from breaking power grids and banking systems. 

Kirton said the discussion will likely include discussion on how to include developing countries in the gains of AI and how it can boost the efficiency of government bureaucracies and business of all sizes. 

Something useful — and Canadian

While federal officials have warned that the summit will unlikely end with a lengthy communiqué that has been part of almost every other G7 summit, Boehm has faith Canada will still deliver points of consensus that liberal democracies can act on.

Last month, finance ministers and central bankers agreed on action around cyber threats to the financial sector and the need to assess the possibilities and risks posed by artificial intelligence.

In March, foreign ministers pledged to focus on maritime security, a topic that affects all G7 countries who also happen to share three oceans with Canada, giving grounds to look at everything from unregistered vessels undermining sanctions to illegal fishing and threats to undersea fibre-optic cables.

These were largely seen as ways to bridge the growing gap between Europe and the U.S. and focus on shared goals. It’s a skill G7 allies turn to Canada for, sometimes literally, in the middle of the night.

“There’s often come a time, usually at three in the morning or something, where someone will look at me, or whoever is in the Canadian chair and say … ‘it’s time for the great Canadian initiative to compromise, and get this thing done.’ So we do add value,” Boehm said.

4) As Trump heads to the G7, Canada hopes to avoid another Charlevoix-style eruption

Source Canadian Press

By Dylan Robertson, June 14, 2025

U.S. President Donald Trump is set to arrive Sunday in Alberta for the G7 summit — his first visit to Canada since leaving in a huff seven years ago.

Ottawa could use everything from golfing and creative scheduling to special cabinet orders to make the visit successful and avoid a repeat diplomatic disaster.

“He is somebody who is very prickly when he feels like he’s not being fully respected,” said Eric Miller, president of Rideau Potomac Strategy Group, a cross-border consultancy.

“You want to make absolutely sure that … he walks away and says, ‘You know, those Canadians aren’t so bad after all.'”

Better than last time

The last time Trump was in Canada — for the G7 summit in the Charlevoix region of Quebec — things ended in a blowout.

Trump refused to sign the communiqué, the published list of statements on common G7 issues that are mostly negotiated and agreed to by member nations ahead of time. He left early and lambasted Trudeau as “very dishonest and weak” in a spat over tariffs.

The summit included what Miller called the “photograph for the ages” — of then German chancellor Angela Merkel and others standing sternly over a seated Donald Trump, who appeared to be glaring back with crossed arms.

German Ambassador to Canada Matthias Lüttenberg put it bluntly when he told a June 4 panel that Ottawa was again navigating “very difficult circumstances” as G7 chair — and capably, in his view.

“I mean, I wouldn’t like to negotiate with a country at the table who’s questioning my sovereignty as a state,” he said.

Sen. Peter Boehm, who was summit head in 2018, recalled two late nights of negotiations because the Trump administration didn’t align with the others on including climate change or references to the “rules-based international order.”

Informal talks

Prime Minister Mark Carney won office in April after repeatedly saying he could stand up to Trump’s threats to ruin the Canadian economy in order to make the country an American state.

Carney had a cordial visit to Washington in early May and even got praise from Trump on social media and in person, despite the president insisting Canada should still become a U.S. state.

The two have continued talking. U.S. Ambassador Pete Hoekstra revealed earlier this month that the president and Carney have exchanged frequent calls and texts on trade and tariffs.

Miller said facetime between the two leaders in Alberta could help them make progress on economic concerns, as well as Trump’s pitch to bring Canada into his proposed Golden Dome missile shield project.

“Given that there is this conversation underway, it is important that they have an opportunity to continue that, and to meet perhaps in a setting that is less structured and formal than the Oval Office,” Miller said.

“Life is about imperfect choices, and it’s absolutely the right thing to have Mr. Trump come to Canada.”

He said he’s not sure if there will be any formal announcement, though he added Trump is keen to sign agreements with multiple countries ahead of his self-imposed July 9 deadline for so-called retaliatory tariffs.

Miller said both Canada and the U.S. are likely to take credit for Ottawa announcing this month it will drastically speed up its pledge to meet NATO’s defence spending target.

Trump might also take note of the fact that he’s in one of the few provinces that have opted to resume sales of U.S. alcohol, after all provinces banned it from their liquor store shelves in response to U.S. tariffs.

Lower expectations

Ottawa’s decision to schedule relatively short group discussions among G7 leaders, and to invite numerous other world leaders, could mean more of the one-on-one meetings that Trump prefers.

“Trump does not like multilateral meetings particularly. He loses interest,” Boehm said.

Canadian officials have said they are focused on releasing shorter, focused statements — which could avoid the kind of major blowups that could come from trying to craft the kind of massive joint communiqué that has concluded almost all other G7 summits.

Former prime minister Jean Chretien told a panel Thursday that if Trump does have an outburst, G7 leaders should ignore him and “keep talking normally.”

Miller said that for Canada, “ensuring a positive agenda that doesn’t lead to acrimony afterwards” means advancing its interests without isolating the U.S., particularly with so many guest leaders attending.

“The trick that Mr. Carney has to pull off is to reassure the U.S. that it wants a good, positive relationship — while at the same time running vigorously, as quickly as possible, to try to build new relationships,” he said.

It’s also entirely possible that Trump will leave before the meetings conclude.

A visiting felon

Keeping it positive is also likely why Ottawa will skirt rules that might bar Trump from crossing into Canada after he was found guilty on 34 criminal counts in a “hush money” trial in May 2024.

Immigration lawyers say those convicted of serious crimes abroad must serve their time and wait five years before seeking a certificate of admissibility to Canada, though there are loopholes if someone seeks a visa for a compelling reason.

The federal cabinet passed a formal order published in February that gives diplomatic immunity and privileges to “representatives of a foreign state that participate in the G7 meetings.”

Fore!

Another way Canada could ensure a successful visit could be to get Trump to the Kananaskis Country Golf Course — a prospect much discussed in media reports that remained unconfirmed as of Friday afternoon.

Carney gave Trump a hat and golf gear from that course during his visit to the Oval Office in May.

Miller said that wasn’t just a gimmick — Trump loves making deals while teeing off, and it could provide Carney or others with hours of facetime on a golf cart, which is Trump’s comfort zone.

“Golf has been pretty central to his life,” he said. “It makes eminent sense to have Mr. Trump playing at a high-quality golf course.”