The Group of Seven (G7) summit on Tuesday begins its final day of deliberations in Canada, but without a key player U.S. President Donald Trump.
Earlier on Monday evening, Trump’s spokeswoman announced that the U.S. president was returning to Washington early from the Canadian Rocky Mountain resort, due to the conflict between Iran and Israel.
Israel had launched attacks on Iran on Friday and retaliatory strikes between the two enemies had since threatened to ignite a wider conflagration across the entire region.
Trump’s early departure was a setback for the G7, as the meeting was seen as a test of unity in the face of major international problems.
The summit was due to address Russia’s ongoing war on Ukraine, in a session attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky .
Zelensky had also planned to hold bilateral talks with Trump.
Trump made it clear that he did not in any case plan to join a joint initiative for further sanctions against Moscow.
He suggested that the Europeans could take the lead and expressed skepticism about U.S. sanctions.
The G7 leaders also plan to discuss energy security with partner countries attending the summit as guests.
In attendance were Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
Others include Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and South Korean President Lee Jae Myung.
Alongside the host Canada, the G7 consists of the U.S, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan and the European Union.
Russia was excluded from the group — previously the G8 — after it annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula in 2014.
This left the remaining members united in their values as Western democracies, though significant differences have emerged between the U.S. and the others since Trump’s return to power.
