Germany What was achieved at the G7 summit - and what was not
Despite the early departure of US President Donald Trump and a lack of success on key issues, several G7 countries have given a positive assessment of their summit in Canada.
18.06.2025, 03:23
SDA
"This G7 summit is far more successful than I thought it would be at the beginning," said German Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) in Kananaskis. He pointed out that agreement had been reached on consensual declarations on seven topics. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, as host, had held the group of leading democratic economic powers together, praised French President Emmanuel Macron.
Even US President Donald Trump, who disrupted the summit with his early departure and lashed out at Macron from the plane, praised the summit: "I loved it. And I think we got a lot done." Specifically, however, he then only mentioned the progress on his trade pact with the UK announced at the meeting in the Rocky Mountains - which actually has nothing to do with the G7 summit.
The non-governmental organization Oxfam, on the other hand, accused the G7 of shirking its responsibility in view of the summit results. The group of states had missed its chance to exert pressure for peace in the Middle East, Oxfam said - and denounced the lack of progress on climate protection and development aid.
So what can the group of states show after the summit in the Rocky Mountains - and what fell by the wayside?
What was achieved:
The G7 format is not dead
After all, the first G7 summit in Trump's second term of office did not end in a major debacle. That doesn't sound like much, but it wasn't a foregone conclusion given the major differences between the US president and his colleagues. It is worth remembering how Trump, in his first term of office, caused the Group of Canada summit in 2018 to collapse by subsequently withdrawing his agreement to the final declaration. Host Carney was able to avoid a fiasco of this magnitude. The West is still open to talks (at least to a limited extent).
This is also important because a large part of the group will meet again next week at the NATO summit in The Hague, where a new NATO target for defense spending is to be decided under pressure from Trump. Ultimately, this is about nothing less than the question of whether the USA will continue to stand ready as a protective power for Europe.
Seven times in line
Carney can at least point to a few concrete results. The G7 leaders adopted a total of seven declarations, for example on the fight against irregular migration and smugglers. Specifically, the aim is to intensify the hunt for smuggling gangs through even better monitoring of money flows.
With a new action plan for critical minerals, the G7 countries want to reduce their dependence on authoritarian raw material powers such as China and secure their own supply chains for strategically important raw materials such as lithium, cobalt and rare earths. And the G7 wants to play a pioneering role in the use of artificial intelligence - not only for economic growth, but also for social benefit.
However, the majority of the issues and agreements are less controversial and of limited scope. The really hot topics were left out.
Common position on the Iran war
One of the seven declarations was a real surprise: the joint position on the war between Israel and Iran. At least on one of the most explosive geopolitical issues at the moment, the group was able to find a common line: A commitment to Israel's right to self-defense, a call to protect civilians - and the dictum that Iran must never possess a nuclear bomb. However, the text gives no indication of how a way out of the escalation could be found. And Trump has left not only the G7 but the whole world in the dark as to whether he wants to intervene in the war alongside Israel.
What has not been achieved:
Still divided on Russia
Trump and the Europeans are still not pulling in the same direction in the Ukraine war. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Selensky traveled to Canada specifically to work with the European G7 states to influence Trump. They want him to increase the pressure on Moscow and approve new US sanctions. However, by the time the G7 leaders sat down with Selenskyj on Tuesday, Trump had long since left.
However, Chancellor Merz is confident that there could soon be movement: "I am going back to Germany with the cautious optimism that there will also be decisions here in America in the next few days to impose further sanctions against Russia." Canada and the UK have already announced further punitive measures, while the EU is currently working on its 18th package.
No visible progress in the customs dispute between the EU and the USA
A breakthrough in the customs dispute is still not in sight. Although Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, discussed the issue with Trump in Canada, she was unable to announce any concrete progress. Only Chancellor Merz spread some optimism. He expressed confidence that there could be at least a limited deal with the USA by July 9 - for selected areas such as the automotive industry. If no agreement is reached by July 9, new high US tariffs will apply to almost all exports from the EU to the United States - and the EU would in turn respond with tariffs on imports from the US.
Trump rants and provokes
Trump began the summit with a provocation when he once again criticized the exclusion of Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin from the G8 following the annexation of Crimea in Ukraine in 2014. Although the hours he spent at the summit did not cause a scandal, this degree of common ground was promptly relativized by his subsequent lashing out at Macron.
And his early departure gave the impression that he attaches little importance to the G7 format as a forum for Western economic powers - although it should be noted that other G7 leaders have also left summits earlier in the past. However, this summit did not send out a signal of unity.
No joint final declaration
A comprehensive joint final declaration had already been dispensed with in advance in order to prevent failure. This underlines the fact that the G7 did not find a common line on the major topics of dispute.
Important topics fell completely by the wayside
Some topics on which the G7 states have set important priorities in the past did not even take place because it would not have been possible to reach agreement with Trump anyway. For example, development aid - the authority responsible for this in the USA was unceremoniously scrapped under Trump. And although the G7 participants expressed deep concern in a declaration about the "record-breaking forest fires" over the past ten years, climate change was not mentioned as an important factor due to pressure from the USA. Both issues have been on the G7's must-do agenda at previous summits.
