Ahead of the G7 summit in Biarritz on France’s rugged Atlantic shores, Donald Tusk, president of the European Council of EU leaders, warned that it could be the last chance to heal the battered alliance of powerful “free world” countries, reports the Financial Times.
By the time Emmanuel Macron, the French president, closed the gathering alongside his US counterpart Donald Trump late on Monday, there had been no transformation in the ailing transatlantic relationship — despite several coups de théâtre and possibilities for progress engineered by the French leader. Paris played up the group’s announcement on the potential for talks between Washington and Tehran over the Iranian nuclear programme and $20m to combat Amazon rainforest fires.
But longtime G7 observers say a forum intended to tackle the most pressing problems of the global economy and security remains chaotic and sometimes dysfunctional because of tension between the Trump administration and other governments. “It’s hard to think of a topic the US isn’t allergic to or doesn’t push back on now,” said one senior European diplomat.
“Or if there is agreement between the participants, it’s the lowest common denominator — at the level of ‘the sun rises and the sun sets’.”
It is a measure of expectations these days for gatherings like the G7 — which includes Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy and the UK as well as France and the US — that officials from France and other countries saw the lack of public attacks on allies during the gathering by Mr Trump as a minor triumph.