July 19, 2025
KANANASKIS, Alberta (AP) — The Group of Seven summit began in Canada on Monday with world leaders scrambling to contain the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear program, with U.S. President Donald Trump reiterating his call for the two nations to start negotiating.
“They should talk, and they should talk immediately,” he told reporters.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said all G7 leaders agree they “have to find a way to de-escalate the situation” in the Middle East because the Israel-Iran conflict risks inflaming the “tinderbox” of Gaza and hurting the global economy.
Starmer said he'd spoken to Trump about the issue, adding "the risk of the conflict escalating is obvious, I think, and the implications, not just for the region but globally, are really immense, so the focus has to be on de-escalation.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told reporters Monday ahead of the summit beginning in the Canadian Rocky Mountains that Germany is planning to draw up a final communique proposal on the Israel-Iran conflict that will stress that “Iran must under no circumstances be allowed to acquire nuclear weapons-capable material.”
Trump wants to focus on trade, though he may have to balance those issues with the broader need by the G7 countries — which also include France, Italy and Japan — to project a united front to calm down a world increasingly engulfed in chaos.
Asked if he planned to announce any trade agreements at the G7 as he left the White House on Sunday, Trump said: “We have our trade deals. All we have to do is send a letter, ‘This is what you’re going to have to pay.' But I think we'll have a few, few new trade deals."
Trump will have a series of bilateral meetings during the summit with other world leaders while in Canada. Beyond Carney, he's also expected to have bilateral meetings or pull-aside conversations with Starmer, Merz, Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Ahead of his meeting with Trump, Zelenskyy said one of the topics for discussion will be a “defense package” that Ukraine is ready to purchase from the U.S. as part of the ongoing war with Russia.
The U.S. president has imposed 25% tariffs on steel, aluminum and autos, all of which have disproportionately hit Japan. Trump is also charging a 10% tax on imports from most countries, though he could raise rates on July 9, after the 90-day negotiating period set by him would expire.
The United Kingdom reached a trade framework with the U.S. that included quotas to protect against some tariffs, but the 10% baseline would remain, as the Trump administration is banking on tariff revenues to help cover the cost of its income tax cuts.
Canada and Mexico face separate tariffs of as much as 25% that Trump put into place under the auspices of stopping fentanyl smuggling, through some products are still protected under the 2020 U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement signed during Trump's first term.
