(AFP) – Host Canada called Thursday on the Group of Seven powers to back Ukraine against Russia’s “aggression” as a more conciliatory approach toward Moscow by Donald Trump’s United States split the club of wealthy democracies.
Canada, the current G7 president, is gathering foreign ministers for three days of talks inside a rustic hotel in snow-dusted Charlevoix, on the banks of the St. Lawrence River in Quebec. Once broadly unified, the G7 — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States — has been rattled since the return of Trump, who has reached out to Russia and slapped punishing trade tariffs on close allies and competitors alike.
Before the full talks, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly met separately with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the highest-level US official to visit since the inauguration of Trump who has taunted the United States’ northern neighbor as the “51st state.” Canada put its maple-leaf flag next to the US Stars and Stripes in a meeting room where Joly and Rubio exchanged French-style pecks on the cheek and shook hands. They did not respond to questions.
Joly, opening the formal session of the G7, said she hoped to find ways to “continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal aggression.” “We all want to see just and lasting peace in Ukraine,” she said.
Rubio has called for the G7 to avoid “antagonistic” language toward Russia, saying it would hinder diplomacy that could end the war that has killed tens of thousands of people. Since Trump took over from Joe Biden, US statements often speak of the “Russia-Ukraine conflict” rather than the previous nomenclature of Russia’s “invasion” of its neighbor in 2022. Rubio took a circuitous route to Canada from Jeddah in Saudi Arabia, where he met Ukrainian officials, who agreed to a US proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday voiced broad support for a ceasefire but suggested he wanted to speak to Trump about it.
**- Disagreement on statement -** Diplomats said that no other G7 country was aligned with the United States on the statement but that the group was looking at a formulation that could bring unanimity, such as endorsing the ceasefire proposal. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned that “peace in Europe will only come through strength.” “What good is a ceasefire that would then lead to even more suffering, destruction, and war in Europe after two or four years?” she said on the sidelines of the G7 talks.
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, speaking to CNN from the talks, said: “I want to stress that, really, if Russia wants to end this war, they can stop bombing Ukraine and this war is over. They withdraw their troops.” Kallas joked that she and Baerbock wore red and white outfits respectively in solidarity with Canada.
Just as the G7 talks opened, Trump doubled down in his rhetoric against Ottawa, with a social media post in which he quoted billionaire fund manager Grant Cardone: “Canada needs America, America does not need Canada.”
**- Trade war -** The G7 meeting came just as Trump’s sweeping 25 percent tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports came into effect Wednesday, prompting immediate retaliation from major US trading partners. The European Union and Canada swiftly unveiled billions of dollars in counter-tariffs. France on Thursday warned of measures after Trump, in a social media post in which he again berated the European Union, made a new threat of a 200 percent tariff on wine, champagne and other alcoholic drinks.
Joly said she intends to raise the issue of tariffs in “every single meeting” at the G7. Kallas said that China — identified by Trump as the top competitor to the United States — gained from the trade war Washington was waging on its allies. “Who (is) laughing at the side is China. It’s definitely benefiting from this. So there are no winners. Eventually, the consumers end up paying more,” she said in the CNN interview.
– Shaun Tandon and Ben Simon
© 2024 AFP
