G7 is a big moment for Carney. Here are five things to watch

The leaders of some of the richest countries in the world have descended on a Luxury Mountain Lodge nestled in the Rockies of Canada for the G7 Summit this year.

The elite rally comes while Western allies are faced with many crises, conflicts on three continents with global economic instability.

Canada chairs the G7 this year and will welcome leaders from Italy, the United States, France, Germany, the United Kingdom and Japan in Kananaskis, Alberta. He has promised a set of rationalized priorities focused on the world’s economy and security.

But the carefully planned agenda of Mark Carney has now been turned upside down by the Israel-Iran conflict.

It is his first major international rally as a Canadian Prime Minister.

Here are five challenges to come.

This summit was to be a test of its ability to achieve three high objectives that it has advanced for Canada – playing a leadership role on the world scene, becoming the strongest G7 economy and depending in the United States.

Now, Iran’s question suddenly pulled at the top of the G7 agenda, a subject on which to find an agreement will be delicate.

But one thing is clear. Carney will be closely monitored how he manages US President Donald Trump, who has often undermined Canada’s sovereignty.

John Kirton, director of the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto, says that the interview will begin from the arrival ceremony, where he will have to show that he treats Trump as an equal. And keep him in check when the meetings are underway.

The summit offers the potential to guarantee certain Canadian victories, perhaps a new trade and security agreement with the United States, has developed last month in Washington.

During this meeting, Carney gave the president golf equipment from Kananaskis Country Club, a picturesque course in the closely controlled perimeter of the summit.

Carnet has already had a wave of individual meetings with its British, Australian, German and South African counterparts during the weekend.

The summit takes place in the middle of a world trade war launched by Trump, which uses prices as a means of rebalancing trade relations. He said the United States had been “looted, looted, raped and looted by close nations and far, both friend and enemy”.

It also occurs, because the World Bank predicts that the global economy will see the slowest decade of growth since the 1960s, as the effect that American prices are felt, which makes it likely that there will be clumsy conversations – or “Frank”, in diplomatic conversations – during this family gathering.

A discussion on the world economy will launch the summit on Monday morning.

But victory in the Trump elections in November changed the world agenda beyond trade. The gathering offers the president a chance to obtain victories on some of his other priorities, such as migration, critical minerals, security and drug trafficking – which are all on the agenda later in the day.

The president met each of his G7 counterparts since his entry into office, but he will align individual meetings on the sidelines – he has already had Carney in his newspaper for Monday morning.

It will be the second time that Trump in Canada as American president, the first being a discordant summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, in 2018 shortly after having slapped steel and aluminum prices in Canada, Mexico and Europe.

Charlevoix was memorable to end with acrimony and disarray – captured in a now famous photo of the former German Chancellor Angela Merkel confronted with a provocative producer while other world leaders and American aid looked at him.

The leaders found it difficult to agree on the language on world trade for the final press release – a moment captured in this image of Merkel – before Trump left the summit early.

He went to Singapore to sit with the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un while publishing Missives of the Air Force One targeting Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Many tensions of seven years ago remain relevant today.

Carney hopes to avoid a similar derailment and declared last month to Sky News that the lesson he drew from this explosion “is to be consistent – to say the same thing in private as you do it in public, say the same things after the summit as you do during the summit”.

The G7 is a “consensual body. We are working together,” said a senior Canadian government official in a briefing last week.

In this spirit, Canada has chosen to completely avoid a final press release in favor of six of short joint declarations on forest fires, critical minerals and other key elements on the agenda.

Canada’s priorities for CONFAB are strongly focused on building stronger economies and strengthening peace and security, in particular by exploiting the power of artificial intelligence and strengthening critical mineral supply chains.

Although there is no general commitment to climate change, he is integrated into the agenda, a senior government official told a briefing this week, highlighting an effort to improve the joint international response to the growing threat of world forest fires.

The worst season of Canada’s forest fires recorded in 2023 and this year could be on the right track to be the second worst. Smoke from the Blazes has covered parts of North America and Europe and could be a reminder visible to the delegates in Kananaskis of the threat.

Ukraine is another urgent subject on the agenda, with President Volodomyr Zelensky in the hope of discussing continuous support from his country, sanctions against Russia and future funding for reconstruction efforts.

Tuesday morning will focus on this conflict, Ukraine is expected to put pressure on more sanctions against Russia.

Carney has also placed the fight against foreign interference – in particular interference in the world communities of the diaspora – at the top of the agenda of the summit, setting up a potential for tense discussions with some of the participating leaders who are not part of the G7.

As a host, Canada also invites managers who are constantly not attached to the group of seven members, and Carney gave a nod to attend, some more controversial than others.

As mentioned, Zelensky will be there and should have a head-to-face with Trump.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi will also be a guest, Carney saying that there are important discussions that India, as a major economic force, should be a part.

Modi’s attendance intervenes in the midst of deeply tense relations between the two countries on the murder of a Sikh separatist chief on Canadian soil.

Canada has accused India of carrying out the targeted murder of Hardeep Singh Nijjar two years ago and the G7 invitation received a backlash from some Sikhs Canadians.

The president of Mexico, Claudia Sheinbaum, confirmed that she will be in Kananaskis and expects to sit with Trump for the first time.

Its presence opens the land for interviews on North American trade, which was turned upside down by Trump’s prices.

Carney also invited European and NATO leaders and although those of Australia, South Africa, South Korea, Indonesia and Brazil.