Now that the smoke clears on Trump’s departure, we’re seeing consequences beyond the immediate priority in the Middle East.
Before that conflict blew up, Ukraine was slated as the big ticket item here.
A set-piece show of unity to advance the Ukrainian cause, with its President Volodymyr Zelenskyy feted as a special guest, celebrated and supported.
That was before a Russian-friendly US president took an early plane out, the same president who has fragmented an alliance against Moscow’s aggression.
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This G7 summit was an opportunity for the world’s big economies to coalesce around a unified strategy to increase pressure on Russia – without its biggest economy, unity and strategy are undermined.
It’s entirely in keeping with Donald Trump’s input since he took power.
We do expect an announcement on new sanctions against Russia. European countries have wanted to lower the price cap on Russian oil, which would be a measure to shrink Putin’s war chest.
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Trump gave it a body swerve when he left the gathering, but not before he placed his cards on the table.
“Let’s see them do it first,” referring to European countries. “When I sanction a country, it costs the US a lot of money. You’re talking about billions and billions of dollars.”
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It’s not all he had to say on Russia. In a press Q&A upon arrival, he bemoaned the absence of Russia, having been expelled from the G8 in 2014 following its annexation of Crimea.
It wasn’t what this gathering wanted to see or hear – Trump, the guest who brought the lead balloon to the party.
It was an uneasy juxtaposition as the Canadian host Mark Carney welcomed Zelenskyy to the summit and spoke of the importance of using “maximum pressure” against Russia.
It’s a ‘maximum’ minimised by Trump’s absence. Had Donald Trump stuck around, of course, it might have got ugly.
On day one, he already looked uneasy in the company of political counterparts he had antagonised from a distance.
His early exit spared him the spectacle of a showdown over Ukraine, even if that’s something G7 members might have welcomed as an opportunity long overdue.
Maybe Trump saw it coming. Maybe it led to his going.
