Top diplomats from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies gathered in Canada on Thursday as US President Donald Trump’s trade and foreign policies have thrown the bloc’s once solid unity into disarray. The meeting began just minutes after Trump threatened to impose 200% tariffs on European wine and other alcohol if the European Union doesn’t back down from retaliating against US steel and aluminum tariffs with a levy on American whiskey.
The escalating trade war adds to uncertainty over relations between the US and its closest allies, which have already been strained by Trump’s position on Russia’s war in Ukraine.
It also likely means US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will hear a litany of complaints as he meets with the foreign ministers of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan over the next two days.
All of them have been angered by the new American president’s policies, and the ministers smiled stiffly in frigid temperatures as they posed for a group photo at a snowy resort in La Malbaie, Quebec, on the St. Lawrence River.
“Peace and stability is at the top of our agenda, and I look forward discussing how we continue to support Ukraine in the face of Russia’s illegal aggression,” Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said in brief remarks at the start of the meetings. “Of course we want to foster long-term stability as well in the Middle East.”
Rubio met earlier with Joly, arriving in Quebec just hours after Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs kicked in – prompting responses from the European Union and Canada.
En route to Canada from Saudi Arabia, where he had won agreement from Ukraine for a 30-day ceasefire in the war pending Russia’s approval, Rubio dismissed suggestions that he would face an uncomfortable reception from this counterparts.
But Joly, the host of the meeting, made clear that Canada, at least, would not back down. Trump has arguably been most antagonistic toward Canada with persistent talk of it becoming the 51st US state, additional tariffs and repeated insults against its leadership.
Ahead of the talks, Joly said that “in every single meeting, I will raise the issue of tariffs to coordinate a response with the Europeans and to put pressure on the Americans.” She noted that Trump “repeated his disrespectful 51st state rhetoric.”
Rubio downplayed Trump’s those comments, saying the president was only expressing what he thought would be a good idea.
The G7 grouping “is not a meeting about how we’re going to take over Canada,” Rubio said.
On tariffs, Rubio said G7 partners should understand that these are a “policy decision” by Trump to protect American competitiveness.
“I think it is quite possible that we could do these things and at the same time deal in a constructive way with our allies and friends and partners on all the other issues that we work together on,” Rubio told reporters Wednesday on a refueling stop in Ireland. “And that’s what I expect out of the G7 and Canada.”
Asked if he expected a difficult reception from his counterparts, Rubio brushed the question aside: “I don’t know, should I be? I mean, they’ve invited us to come. We intend to go. The alternative is to not go. I think that would actually make things worse, not better.”
Rubio notably skipped a meeting of G20 foreign ministers – a bigger but less powerful group that includes developing nations – last month in South Africa because of his concerns that the agenda, which included climate change and diversity, did not align with Trump administration policies.
The agenda for the G7 meeting includes discussions on China and the Indo-Pacific; Ukraine and Europe; stability in the Americas; the Middle East; maritime security; Africa; and China, North Korea, Iran and Russia.
Rubio and Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, had been in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, earlier in the week securing a potentially huge win for the administration – a possible ceasefire to end the Russia-Ukraine war, an issue that galvanized the G7 since even before the conflict began. Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff arrived Thursday in Russia for talks with officials on the proposal.
Armed with Ukraine’s acceptance of the proposal for a 30-day ceasefire but still awaiting a Russian response, Rubio can expect cautiously optimistic responses from his fellow diplomats.
Yet, Trump’s apparent desire to draw Russian President Vladimir Putin back into the fold – including saying he would like to see Russia rejoin the group to restore it to the G8 – continues to alarm G7 members. They united behind Ukraine, with large amounts of military assistance and punishing economic sanctions against Moscow, after the invasion began in February 2022.
Russia was thrown out of the G8 after it annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Among international groupings, the G7 – whose members, with the exception of Japan, are all NATO allies – had been the toughest on Russia.