Kananaskis, Canada, June 14 (EFE).– G7 leaders will arrive Sunday in the Canadian Rockies for a summit dominated by global military conflicts, including Ukraine, Gaza, and the escalating Israel-Iran confrontation.
The summit comes amid a deepening trade war sparked by US President Donald Trump’s tariff policies.
Alongside the leaders of , Canada, the United States, , Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom, the summit at the Kananaskis resort, located about 90 km west of Calgary, will also welcome the presidents of Mexico, Brazil, Ukraine, South Korea, and South Africa, as well as the prime ministers of Australia and India.
Although the official agenda centers on peace and security, energy stability, and digital transition, along with strategies to drive global economic investment, the backdrop of the summit is the commercial conflict triggered by Trump’s sweeping tariffs.
All leaders in attendance are expected to seek bilateral meetings with Trump on the sidelines of the summit in an effort to advance negotiations aimed at lifting or easing the tariffs the US has imposed in recent weeks.
As host of the summit, and leader of one of the countries hardest hit by Trump’s return to the White House, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is guaranteed a face-to-face meeting with the US president.
To the relief of Canadians, Carney’s relationship with Trump has so far been cordial, a notable contrast to the combative dynamic the US president shared with Justin Trudeau.
Carney assumed office in March, propelled in part by Trump’s aggressive trade stance. After announcing plans to impose tariffs on his closest trading partner, Trump escalated tensions by suggesting the potential annexation of Canada.
Trump and Carney have been negotiating a new trade framework to replace the decades-old economic relationship that gradually deepened since World War II, particularly in sectors like the automotive industry.
That process culminated in the 1989 Canada-US Free Trade Agreement, which later evolved into NAFTA with Mexico’s entry in 1994.
Today, 77 percent of Canadian exports are bound for the United States. In key sectors such as oil, Canada is the world’s fourth-largest producer, nearly 99 percent of exports go to its southern neighbor.
In 2024, bilateral trade in goods and services between Canada and the US, now part of the USMCA alongside Mexico, reached $904.2 billion. Of that, $762.1 billion came from goods trade alone.
Trump’s new tariffs, including 25 percenton all non-USMCA products, 10 percent on oil and gas, and 25 percent on steel, aluminum, and non-North American vehicles, are particularly damaging for Canada.
The International Monetary Fund has revised Canada’s 2025 growth forecast downward by 0.6 points, to 1.4 percent, citing the trade war’s economic fallout. Among advanced economies, Canada is the most affected by Trump’s policies.
Carney, a respected economist and former Governor of both the Bank of Canada (2008–2013) and the Bank of England (2013–2020), has crafted a three-pronged strategy in response to the new trade landscape: remove internal trade barriers, deepen economic ties with the European Union, and renegotiate North America’s economic structure with Trump.
The Kananaskis G7 Summit is expected to be a key moment for progress on the latter two fronts. EFE
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