June 13 (UPI) — As the G7 group of large democratic nations with big economies meets Sunday in Alberta, Canada, members have a broad agenda in the midst of global economic and military turmoil.
The G7 agenda includes support for Ukraine in its war defending against the Russian invasion and global trade. European members expect the United States to press again for nations to devote 5% of their budgets to defense.
Other G7 issues are the Israel-Gaza war with Canada, France and Britain putting increasing pressure on Israel to end its Gaza blockade.
U.S. President Donald Trump is a convicted felon and Canada bars felons from entering the country. But as a foreign state representative attending the G7, Trump will be granted immunity from the usual no-felons-admitted rule.
As the host country Canada has some agenda priorities of its own for the G7 meeting. Canada has identified three core missions.
The first is “protecting our communities and the world” by addressing crime, peace and security, migration and working to improve wildfire responses.
The second is “building energy security and accelerating the digital transition” focused on critical mineral supply chains, artificial intelligence and quantum technology to boost economic growth.
The third, “partnerships of the future” will concentrate on attracting infrastructure private investment to create jobs.
Canada also hopes achieve a U.S.-Canada trade deal.
Prime Minister Mark Carney and Trump are expected to meet privately during the G7.
Ahead of the meeting, retired Canadian politician Charlie Angus took Trump to task for deploying the military to Los Angeles ICE protests.
During a news conference, Angus said, “We’re not talking about creeping fascism here. This is full on police state tyranny from the gangster President Donald Trump.”
