Toronto: Top diplomats from the Group of Seven industrialised democracies are converging on southern Ontario as tensions rise between the US and traditional allies like Canada over defence spending, trade and uncertainty over President Donald Trump’s ceasefire plan in Gaza and efforts to end the Russia-Ukraine war.
Canadian Foreign Minister Anita Anand said in an interview that “the relationship has to continue across a range of issues” despite trade pressures as she prepared to host US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and their counterparts from Britain, France, Germany, Italy and Japan on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Anand also invited the foreign ministers of Australia, Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, Mexico, South Korea, South Africa and Ukraine.
She said “15 foreign ministers are coming from around the world to the Great White North and funnily enough on the week of our first large snowfall.” “The work that Canada is doing is continuing to lead multilaterally in an era of a greater movement to protectionism and unilateralism,” Anand said. “And in an era of economic and geopolitical volatility.”
Canada’s G7 hosting duties this year have been marked by strained relations with its North American neighbour, predominantly over Trump’s imposition of tariffs on Canadian imports. But the entire bloc of allies is confronting major turbulence over the Republican president’s demands on trade and various proposals to halt worldwide conflicts.
One main point of contention has been defence spending. All G7 members except for Japan are members of NATO, and Trump has demanded that the alliance partners spend 5 per cent of their annual gross domestic product on defense. While a number of countries have agreed, others have not. Among the G7 NATO members, Canada and Italy are furthest from that goal.