Containing the damage from the G7 fiasco

It takes both statecraft and stagecraft to put on a successful international summit. Statecraft happens behind the scenes and the outline of the final communiqué often is set before the opening speeches. Stagecraft is created for political audiences: leaders pose for photos, participate in choreographed discussions and theatrically sign an agreed-upon final communiqué. The whole thing is carried off in a spirit of dignified bonhomie. No more. At last weekend’s chaotic G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que., statecraft was overwhelmed by the bombastic stagecraft of U.S. President Donald Trump. Feigning offence at remarks by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Canada-U.S. trade, Trump rescinded his approval of the summit’s final communiqué, as well as one on fighting plastic pollution. The other G7 countries had spent the weekend trying to maintain order in the face of Trump’s recalcitrance. They tried to mollify him. They failed. At Trump’s behest, a phrase reflecting the traditional G7 priority on the need for a “rules-based international order” was deleted from the communiqué, which Trump refused to endorse anyway. Having soured the pre-summit atmosphere by tweeting insults and inflammatory trade claims at Canada, Trump revealed in Charlevoix that his anti-Canadian steel and aluminum tariffs are really about milk quotas, not U.S. national security. The president skipped a meeting with British Prime Minister Theresa May and was so late for one with President Emmanuel Macron of France that it had to be rescheduled. He also arrived pointedly late for a session on gender equality. Then Trump left the summit four hours early to fly to Singapore for his much-hyped meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. From Air Force One, Trump sent a series of tweets castigating Trudeau for, well, standing up for Canada. Calling Trudeau “very dishonest and weak,” Trump claimed, without any evidence, that Canada had been bragging about being $100 billion up on the U.S. in trade. But the crowning moment of Trump madness came when he suggested that Russia should be re-admitted to the G7. “Why are we having a meeting without Russia?” Trump wondered. “Russia should be in the meeting.” It was a remarkable intervention, given that Trump’s administration is embroiled in probes about Russian meddling in U.S. elections. The fact is other G7 nations don’t want Vladimir Putin around because he’s a security risk. Russia is a fading power. It’s not a top-10 economy and spreads its influence more by corruption than by example. After invading Ukraine and the Crimea and meddling in Western internal politics, Russia’s G7 days are properly over. Perhaps it was just bad luck that the 2018 G7 Summit took place in Canada just when relations with Trump’s America have soured. As the G7’s host, Trudeau tried hard to keep the peace, despite Trump. Yesterday, his office issued a statement calling the summit a success. But there’s no denying the strains that now exist in the industrialized democracies, most of which lead back to President Trump.