President Donald Trump is scheduled to head to France to attend the annual summit of the Group of Seven countries, but the United States and Iran have yet to finalize an expected deal to end the Middle East war that has sparked political and economic tensions around the world.
The three-day G7 summit will be held from Monday at Evian-les-Bains, on the shores of Lake Geneva, on France’s eastern border with Switzerland.
President Trump said he would leave for the summit “immediately” after attending a mixed martial arts fight scheduled to be held on the White House South Lawn on Sunday night. The UFC bout coincided with Trump’s 80th birthday.
When France took control of the G7 in January, President Emmanuel Macron expressed his desire for the group to prioritize reducing inequality and promoting multilateralism while addressing escalating trade and geopolitical tensions. These priorities may run counter to President Trump’s “America First” policy. Under it, he imposed tariffs, went after other world leaders in person and on social media, and started wars. And according to the World Bank’s Gini Index, inequality in the United States is worse than in any other European country except Turkey, and is just shy of its all-time high.
During his second term in the White House, President Trump has distanced himself even further from traditional US allies than he did during his first term, repeatedly flirting with withdrawing the US from NATO, the key defense alliance between the US and Europe.
While the agreement to end the Iran war is attracting global attention, G7 leaders are also expected to spend time focusing on Russia’s ongoing war with Ukraine, which continues to escalate in Eastern Europe.
Seven countries — Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States — and the European Union will also discuss issues related to artificial intelligence, online protection and the fight against organized crime.
Victor Cha, director of geopolitics and foreign policy at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said there could be “real fireworks” regarding AI.
While Europe is keen to rein in Big Tech and regulate AI leaders from an energy and environmental perspective, the United States under the Trump administration is opposed to aggressive regulation of emerging industries, Cha said.
But Macron, who has a soft spot for technology company leaders, has invited OpenAI head Sam Altman to attend the G7 and participate in talks with leaders, the technology companies told CNBC. Bloomberg spoke with Anthropic executives. google will also be attending the conference.
Cha predicted that Trump would likely be greeted at the summit by other world leaders who are trying to rein in the United States itself.
“Even under good conditions, President Trump is trying to join the G7, but European countries do not appreciate the way he talks about Europe,” he said. “With all the other issues on the agenda, I’m sure it’s going to be a very frank, frank and intense conversation.”
But the summit could be overshadowed by the Iran war, which began in February and which President Trump has repeatedly said is nearing an end.
Trump administration officials told reporters Friday that such a deal could be signed within just a few days. But it’s not “100%” certain it will work, the official added.
President Trump announced on Saturday that a deal to end the war with Iran would be signed on Sunday, after which the Strait of Hormuz would open, but Iranian state media disputed the timing.
The two countries have not yet decided where the agreement will be concluded, but officials said a location in Europe has been floated. Bloomberg reported earlier on Friday that a deal could be struck in Switzerland.
