AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
President Trump leaves today for the Group of Seven, or G7, the annual meeting of leaders from seven advanced economies. This year, it's in Canada, a country Trump has antagonized by repeatedly saying he wants it to be the 51st state. The president has also placed tariffs on goods from all of the G7 nations. NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben will be traveling with the president and joins us now with a preview. Good morning, Danielle.
DANIELLE KURTZLEBEN, BYLINE: Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So let's start with maybe the biggest international news in the run-up to the G7, the conflict between Iran and Israel. Do we know how that's going to weigh on the summit?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, it'll certainly be top of mind. But as you know, these G7 sessions are private. The leaders talk behind closed doors. But they will almost certainly talk about what issues this conflict raises in terms of international security, economics, and so on. But as for what the leaders might do about it, what they might even be able to agree on - excuse me - well, it's not clear what that would be. The G7 has in the past played a part in international conflicts. For example, in 2024, pretty notably, they agreed to lend the interest from seized Russian assets to Ukraine in its fight against Russia. But then, first of all, that was a very different conflict, and also Joe Biden was the U.S. president then, a guy much more of an internationalist than Trump. Trump, for his part, has clashed with fellow G7 leaders at past summits, and there's no reason to expect any different this time.
RASCOE: Remind us of those clashes. I was around for some of them. What happened in his first term?
KURTZLEBEN: Right, yes. Well, he clashed with other countries over a lot of things - over climate change, notably. He also wanted Russia back in the G7. The other nations did not want that. They also clashed over agendas, though. Under Trump, the U.S. took the position that the G7 simply tried to do too much. The Trump administration in the first term thought that tackling climate change and gender equality just constituted overreach. But most memorably, in 2018, the G7 summit ended with Trump blowing up at then-Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. And, Ayesha, I think you were at that one for NPR, right?
RASCOE: I was. It was a dramatic end to the summit just as Trump was leaving.
KURTZLEBEN: Right. And to remind people what happened. Trudeau gave this press conference ending the summit, and Trudeau threatened to retaliate against U.S. tariffs. Well, that made Trump angry. And as he left, he tweeted that Trudeau was dishonest and weak. And Trump also withdrew the U.S.' approval from a joint statement or a communique that the countries had already agreed to. So really, Trump just blew up the unity that they had all just tried to achieve.
RASCOE: Do we think there could be a repeat of that this year?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, at least not over a joint statement because there will be no joint statement. According to the White House, that's something Canada wanted. Now, that's unusual, and it does matter, according to Victor Cha. He's with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, which is a think tank here in Washington.
VICTOR CHA: One is the G7 stepping back from the role that it had assumed as early as two years ago, when they basically said, we are the countries that need to lead, you know, now that the U.N. Security Council is stymied by Russia and China.
KURTZLEBEN: He was talking about issues, for example, like Ukraine and food security. But he added that the lack of statement this year reflects how much Trump's America First mindset and just general dislike of multilateralism has weakened the G7.
RASCOE: Is there something that Trump hopes to accomplish at this summit?
KURTZLEBEN: Well, White House officials said that he's hoping to talk about a list of topics like trade, critical minerals and migration. Aside from that, he's going to have one-on-one meetings with the other G7 leaders. He might meet with leaders who are not in the G7 who are invited, like Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Ukraine, Claudia Sheinbaum from Mexico. It is a safe bet, though, that he'll be trying to negotiate on tariffs with other leaders, and that that's something he'll talk a lot about when he talks to reporters.
RASCOE: That's NPR's Danielle Kurtzleben. Thank you so much.
KURTZLEBEN: Of course. Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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