World leaders from the seven most industrialized countries arrive today in Quebec City for the G7 Summit amid a backdrop of recent attempts by U.S. President Donald Trump to launch a trade war and take aim at the international system his country helped build.
The American president has been no stranger to controversy during his time in office so far.
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But his move to declare the trade of steel and aluminum from Canada, Mexico and the countries of the European Union as a “national security” threat to the United States (and the retaliatory decision by those countries to launch a challenge at the World Trade Organization) are expected to weigh heavily on the meetings taking place at the summit.
“Our approach has always been to seek common ground, to find areas of agreement,” said Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in a press conference on Thursday.
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“We continue to remain positive about the discussions we’ll be having. As we know, we’ll have points of disagreement and points of agreement, but the point of having these discussions is good for our citizens and good for the world.”
However, the steel and aluminum tariffs will not be the only potential point of tension among the leaders.
Here are four other areas ripe for conflict among the discussion table.
Iran
The Iran nuclear deal will be a big issue up for discussion at the summit – or more specifically, Trump’s decision to withdraw the U.S. from the pact.
Trump announced in May he would pull the U.S. out of the deal, which was reached between Iran and the U.S., U.K., Russia, France, China and Germany in 2015.
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The pact sought to limit and prevent further Iranian progress towards building nuclear weapons in exchange for the lifting of international sanctions.
However, Trump has characterized the deal as “disastrous” and argued it fails to do anything to address the destabilizing influence Iran wields in the region and stop the development of its ballistic missile program.
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French President Emmanuel Macron told reporters Thursday morning that addressing some of those tensions stemming from Iranian influence in countries like Iraq and Syria, as well as Lebanon, will be among the issues discussed during the summit.
“In terms of Iran, the action that we have to take will also try to avoid an escalation of tension,” Macron said, noting his message to Trump on the matter will be simple.
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“Don’t prevent other people from keeping it and don’t push Iran out of it. That’s the best option we have today and we have to work with it.”
Climate
Trudeau is facing intense pressure to meet Canada’s climate commitments under the Paris Accord.
He has also pledged to make securing a charter agreement among attending states to limit the use of plastics as one of his core goals for the summit, but it remains unclear whether that agreement can be secured in time to announce it this weekend.
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However, Macron’s pledge to ban the sale of diesel and gasoline cars after 2040 seems to have shifted much of the climate-related praise away from Trudeau, particularly in recent weeks after the latter announced his government would buy the Trans Mountain pipeline if it cannot help Kinder Morgan find a buyer.
The announcement tarnished Trudeau’s already-fading image as a global climate leader.
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Now, environmental advocates will be watching closely to see whether he can make substantive progress on other climate issues with world leaders at his side over the coming days.
Protectionism
The broader implications of American isolationism will also be woven through virtually every item on the G7 agenda.
That will likely make leaders attempt to stress the importance of international trade with a protectionist Trump, though to what ends remains unclear.
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In addition to the steel and aluminum tariffs announced on May 31, Trump has also threatened to slap tariffs on vehicles imported into the American market from Canada and Mexico.
He had made a similar threat against vehicles from the European Union in March.
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Those EU tariffs, he had warned, would come in retaliation to any EU tariffs put in place in response to American steel and aluminum tariffs.
While the EU announced retaliatory tariffs last week – as well as a challenge at the WTO – Trump has not yet announced the promised auto tariffs.
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Macron hinted leaders have not yet given up on trying to persuade Trump to change his mind.
“We have to try to convince the United States,” he said. “This is our historical ally and we need them.”
Populism
A similar vein leaders will likely tap will be how to address the populist movements fuelling the rise of isolationist, authoritarian leaders more broadly.
Trust in government and traditional media is at an all-time low, particularly in the U.S., where polls suggest less than 10 per cent of citizens trust Congress.
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“That is a central challenge that we will be discussing and it has many aspects in it,” said Trudeau on Thursday morning.
“Restoring the faith of our citizens … is going to be at the heart of the economic discussion we are having.”
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Trudeau has made the search for “common ground” among both Canadians from different ends of the political spectrum, as well as more prickly leaders like Trump, a hallmark of his time in office so far.
But with frustrations already heightened over Trump’s tariffs, how much progress can be achieved on any of the matters up for discussion remains to be seen.
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