Trump faces G7 after year of trade wrath, diplomatic bluster
The latter may depend largely on peace deal discussions with Iran, which gained momentum on Friday.
Also read: Pakistan’s Shehbaz Sharif says US and Iran have agreed on a text of agreement to end their war
“It is not possible to govern Trump the way he did in his first term,” Liana Fix, an associate member of the Council on Foreign Relations, told AFP ahead of the summit that will pit the United States against France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom.
With the exception of his beloved Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi, all of these countries’ leaders have faced Trump’s trade ire or diplomatic intimidation.
Every other leader expected on the shores of Lake Geneva became the target of attacks, criticism or ridicule from the Republican billionaire.
‘We expect the worst’
Neither the growing unpopularity that could cost Trump his control of Congress in November nor the Supreme Court’s blanket tariff strikedown will likely soften Trump’s damaging tone toward global partners.
European leaders in particular have learned to “hope for the best and expect the worst” through the Greenland incident, trade conflicts and the Iran war, Fix said.
Moreover, according to the New York Times, the United States has informed the Europeans of their intention to significantly reduce the number of aircraft and warships available to NATO in Europe.
“I don’t think you’ll see a weakened president,” Jackson James, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund USA, told AFP.
“I think he’s going to go out there and do what he’s always done, which is try to force his way through very, very complex issues and try to achieve the American agenda as he sees it.”
Victor Cha, an expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said at the press conference that “Trump does not like these multilateral meetings” but “he cannot stand a meeting of world leaders and him not being there.”
“So he shows himself to these things and leaves early,” Cha said, as he did at the last G7.
Also read: Iran peace deal on horizon as new military action flares up near Strait of Hormuz
Versailles
Still, French president Emmanuel Macron hopes to persuade the impatient American president to stay for dinner at Versailles on Wednesday evening, tapping into the 79-year-old’s admiration for the monarchy and the ostentatious trappings of luxury.
France has sought to accommodate the American president’s needs by shifting the dates of the summit to coincide with his 80th birthday and the celebratory mixed martial arts tournament Trump will host at the White House on Sunday.
Some experts consider the absence of South Africa, which was planned to attend the G7 summit, as a concession to Washington.
But Paris insists there is no pressure on South Africa – a country that Trump has accused without evidence of widespread persecution of its white population – to withdraw the invitation.
Many analysts say at least one issue France has on the table may interest Trump: trade relations with China.
Ukrainian
The balance of power has also changed somewhat when it comes to Ukraine, where the situation has remained fundamentally unchanged since Trump began his second term.
In 2025, “the Europeans kind of agreed that they had to bend the knee to Trump because of Ukraine and the need for military support from the United States,” but now “we’re in a different dynamic where Ukraine is not as dependent on the United States,” CSIS Europe expert Max Bergmann said in a briefing.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who probably knows better than anyone how quickly a meeting with Trump could spiral out of control, was invited to a discussion session at Evian.
