Trudeau to focus on trade, climate action in G7 talks
French summit an opportunity for PM to highlight Liberals’ record on environment
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau arrived Friday for this weekend’s long-awaited G7 summit in France, where he plans to try to shore up Canada’s trade and economic interests in one-on-one meetings with several world leaders before the official gathering gets underway.
White House officials have confirmed Trudeau will have a tête-à-tête with U.S. President Donald Trump on Sunday on the margins of the summit, which is being held this weekend in the picturesque seaside resort of Biarritz.
Trudeau will also meet with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo in private, one-on-one meetings before the official beginning of the summit Saturday night.
While their collective grievances with China have been a key focus of conversations between Trudeau, Trump and other Canadian and U.S. officials in the days leading up to the summit — including during meetings in Ottawa on Thursday with U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — Canadian officials say Trudeau will be focused on trade and economic issues when he sits down with Trump and other G7 leaders.
Trudeau is also expected to prioritize taking action on climate change both in bilateral meetings and during the summit’s official program — an effort to highlight his Liberal government’s achievements on climate change ahead of the October federal election.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who is hosting this year’s G7 summit, tweeted that he intends to put climate issues high on the agenda, particularly as they pertain to the record number of wildfires in the Amazon rainforest.
Calling the wildfires an “international crisis,” Macron called for an emergency debate.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Trudeau replied on Twitter, although it remained unclear what specific actions Canada would be prepared to take to help Brazil fight the rainforest blazes.
The official program for the G7 meetings involves themed discussions aimed at “fighting inequalities,” including planned sessions to discuss economic, tax and security issues, advancing gender equity, digital transformation and also forging a new partnership with Africa to help that continent tackle its economic and social challenges.
However, in an unprecedented move, Macron has announced he does not intend to work toward a final communique to wrap up the summit. It will mark the first time since the first G7 summit was convened in 1975 that a final communique was not adopted by the world’s leading economies.
Instead, outcome documents for each area of discussion, such as free trade, gender equity and the environment, will be published after following agreements reached between individual countries — an attempt to avoid the stormy end of the last G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que., when Trump lashed out at Trudeau and scratched his name from the communique.
Discussions between Trudeau, Trump, Johnson and other world leaders will focus mainly on economic issues, including their shared commitment to the new North American trade deal.