Carney, Trump to sit down Monday ahead of G7 start as work continues on tariff deal
PM looking to secure a trade deal to see the U.S. tariffs lifted
In his first big test at the G7, Prime Minister Mark Carney will meet with U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday morning, according to an official in his office.
The Prime Minister's Office said the two leaders will sit down one-on-one before the main talks with the other leaders officially get underway.
Carney has been keen to ink a deal with Trump on trade and security, and for the U.S. president to drop his punishing tariffs on Canadian steel, aluminum and the auto industry.
Earlier this week CBC/Radio-Canada reported Canada and the U.S. appear to be making progress toward some sort of trade agreement. Sources with direct knowledge of the situation said a working document outlining details of a potential deal has been sent back and forth between Ottawa and Washington.
The document is considered a step toward the overall goal of reaching a deal, but sources cautioned work needs to be done before there's an agreement.
Canada-U.S. Trade Minister Dominic LeBlanc said Canadian officials will continue to "grind away" on getting a deal past the finish line, adding there's a level of uncertainty in dealing with the U.S. administration.
"So if on Sunday, it looks like there's no agreement, Monday night, [we] can suddenly be in agreement. If we think we made progress two weeks ago, well, two weeks later, we haven't gotten the agreement we want," he told Rosemary Barton Live in an interview that aired Sunday.
The Canada side is working on the economic-defence deal "with a real sense of urgency and frustration that obviously is fuelled by what business and union and workers are telling us," he added.
Trump arrived in Calgary on Air Force One shortly after 8:30 p.m. local time, and travelled to the Kananaskis summit site by helicopter. It's his first time in Canada since he attended the last G7 summit in Charlevoix, Que. in 2018.
Trump was asked as he left the White House Sunday whether he expected to announce any trade deals during the summit
"I think we'll have a few new trade deals, yeah," he said.
Carney is far from the only world leader seeking deals with Trump during his trip to Kananaskis, Alta., as his administration pushes an aggressive trade position that's shaking up global markets.
The leaders of some of the most powerful democracies have begun landing in Alberta on Sunday ahead of the high-stakes gathering set against the scenery of the Canadian Rockies, with the summit spread over the picturesque communities of Kananaskis, Banff and Calgary.
This year's gathering will largely be judged on whether a group built on consensus can actually get along.
The G7 — which includes the United States, France, Germany, Japan, the United Kingdom, Italy and Canada, as well as the European Union — has met annually for the past 50 years to form a co-ordinated voice on major issues, including trade and economics, security and climate change.
No joint communiqué
But the group has become more fractured over the years. The last time Trump attended a G7 in Canada back in 2018, he sent the gathering into disarray and withheld U.S. support from the joint communiqué typically issued at the end of the summit.
This year, Canadian organizers are taking a different route and are forgoing the traditional list of priorities and accomplishments that all countries agree to sign.
Instead, Canada is looking to secure leaders' approval on a series of short, joint statements focused on concrete actions and outcomes in key areas, a senior government official said ahead of the summit.
This year, Carney has set a list of priorities reflective of the challenging state of the world.
That's been further crystallized by Israel's deadly surprise attack Friday on Iranian nuclear sites. The two countries have traded strikes in the three days since, increasing calls for the G7 countries to de-escalate the situation and intervene on Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Speaking from Ottawa before travelling west, U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the Israel-Iran conflict the "centrepiece" of the summit.
"This provides the opportunity to talk to our co-leaders about the fast-moving situation, and to make our strong case together that there must be de-escalation of this conflict in the interests of the region, and of course the world," he said Sunday.
The other summit priorities, according to the Prime Minister's Office, include energy security — with a focus on critical minerals and artificial intelligence — and "securing the partnerships of the future."
With parts of Western Canada still grappling with a devastating fire season, Carney has also put wildfires on the agenda.
In addition to the G7 members, leaders from India, Brazil, South Africa, United Arab Emirates, South Korea, Ukraine, Mexico and Australia have been invited for at least part of the proceedings, along with the secretaries general of the United Nations, NATO and the European Union, and the head of the World Bank.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
with files from J.P. Tasker, Sarina Mohan, Reuters and The Associated Press