World leaders are gathering in a French spa town Monday for a summit of the Group of Seven club of powerful democracies with a new impetus following President Donald Trump 's announcement of an agreement that he says will bring an end to the U.S. war against Iran.
Trump arrives in Evian-les-Bains on Monday afternoon for talks with G7 leaders, including some who have been sharply critical of his managing of the roughly 15-week conflict that has led
to a surge in global energy prices.
Trump has had sharp disagreement with host French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni over failing to consult them before the decision to go to war. Trump has threatened reprisals, including drawing down U.S. troops in all four countries, all members of the NATO military alliance, for their lack of support.
The G7 includes France, the United States, Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United Kingdom. Guest nations at this summit include Brazil, Egypt, India, Kenya, South Korea, Qatar, Syria, Ukraine, and the United Arab Emirates.
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The French president says he’ll seek to persuade President Trump to continue supporting Ukraine and increase pressure on Russia to help reach a peace agreement.
Macron is to meet later Monday with Trump at a G7 summit in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains, which Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to join Tuesday for talks.
Macron said he wants the United States to say: “We are with you, we will continue to support Ukraine, and we will increase the pressure on Russia to achieve a meaningful negotiation,” speaking in an interview with French broadcaster TF1.
“The right negotiation is one in which Ukraine and Russia are at the table, but with Europeans and Americans present as well,” Macron said.
French president Emmanuel Macron says he will not back down in the face of threats from President Trump to impose 100% tariffs on French wines unless Paris removes its digital tax on U.S. tech companies.
In an interview with broadcaster TF1, Macron said Monday that the tax was decided by Europeans and that it is not “for the United States to decide what European or French law should be.” He added that this position is “normal” and will not change “as long as I am here.”
Wines and spirits exported from the European Union to the U.S. currently face a 15% tariff. Macron said he intends to address the issue in a “respectful but firm” manner during the G7.
“What is important to understand is why the G7 was created,” he said. “To resolve many of our international imbalances, it is better to coordinate and consult with one another, especially when we are among the world’s major democracies.”
Sometimes it’s over foreign policy issues like Iran or Ukraine. Other times, it’s been over tariffs.
And two of the leaders have endured sitting through clumsy asides by Trump about dark moments in their countries’ histories.
It makes the G7 not unlike a family holiday gathering where “there’s an uncle you don’t quite like,” said Max Bergmann, an analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
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Macron said France and other Western partners are “ready to take action very quickly” to help reopen the Strait of Hormuz peacefully.
France and Britain have championed a mission to restore maritime security in the strait as soon as conditions allow.
“We already have forces in the area,” including France’s nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, Macron said in an interview Monday on French television TF1.
“We are ready to take action very quickly ... to send aircraft, deploy a frigate, send mine-clearing vessels. We also have our aircraft carrier, the Charles de Gaulle, along with its accompanying strike group, which remains in the region and could be deployed within two or three days following confirmation” of the tentative deal between the U.S. and Iran, he said.
Trump has sparred with the leaders of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom over the Iran war.
Ahead of their meeting at the G7, they issued a joint statement congratulating the United States, the Iranian government and the mediators on what they called a “diplomatic breakthrough.” Canada also signed the statement.
The leaders said it was vital for detailed negotiations to take place and for the deal to be quickly implemented so the Strait of Hormuz can be reopened to tanker traffic.
They say they are committed to playing their part. including the possibility of mine clearance operations.
With world leaders flying in, the G7 summit venue in Evian-les-Bains is being transformed from a placid lakeside French town to something of a security fortress, with police patrols on many streets and corners, checking passes and watching crowds.
Macron, the summit host, dropped by a temporary headquarters for the security operation in Evian on Monday morning, to thank officers for their work.
He called the 3-day summit on the Middle East, Ukraine, trade and other issues “a big source of pride for France, a big responsibility.”
“We’ll try to make maximum progress on all the issues that are important for our country, our continent and also for global peace and prosperity,” Macron told assembled police officers, gendarmes, firefighters, health workers and other personnel.
Macron said nearly 13,800 officers were deployed for the security operation.
“Only your collective mobilization makes this possible,” he said. “Good luck for the coming days. Keep up the work.”
Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said Japan will participate in a joint statement issued by the Group of Seven’s four European nations calling for cooperation in efforts to quickly reopen the Strait of Hormuz and to end Iran’s nuclear program.
Takaichi, asked about the joint statement, said Japan was requested to be part of it and that “We will join.”
In the statement issued Monday in response to the U.S.-Iran peace deal, France, Britain, Italy and Germany said the rapid and comprehensive implementation of the agreement is vital, and that they are ready to provide support such as ensuring safe commercial shipping and mine clearance in the key waterway, in accordance with respective constitutional requirements.
Takaichi did not give details about a possible Japanese contribution, but said that she planned to thoroughly discuss at the G7 summit ways to achieve peace and stability in the entire Middle East region.
The president may be on his way to France for the G7 summit, but he continues to lay out details for celebrations to mark the 250th anniversary of American independence.
“On July 4th, at The Lincoln Memorial and Washington Monument, in beautiful and safe Washington D.C., we are going to host the most spectacular TRUMP RALLY of them all, a “TRIBUTE TO AMERICA,” Trump posted on social media.
Trump said the event will include military flyovers, his personally curated music playlist, and “the LARGEST FIREWORKS SHOW IN HISTORY.”
Trump, in late May, also announced that he would headline “The Great American State Fair,” part of the America 250 celebration, after several musical guests backed out partly over the event’s ties to Trump. Organizers had said that the president’s appearance is slated for June 24 to kick off the state fair.
French President Emmanuel Macron drank a glass of water Monday from the spring that gave the town of Evian-les-Bains its international reputation.
Macron visited the Cachat Spring, named after the owner of the garden through which the water flowed in the late 18th century.
The water was first analyzed in 1807 and was recommended for treating kidney and bladder ailments. It gained popularity as a table water beginning in the 1860s and is now sold worldwide under the Evian brand.
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and the head of the U.N. health agency are calling on world leaders to strengthen an accord passed last year to help fight pandemics like COVID-19.
“Humanity promised itself, in the rawness of that grief, that it would not face such a day again unprepared,” they wrote in a joint statement.
Negotiations on a crucial annex to the accord have been stuck over differences about sharing disease-causing pathogens, which often erupt in tropical developing countries, in exchange for access to technologies like vaccines, usually developed in rich nations.
They called on the leaders of the G7 and other international groupings to “instruct your negotiators to come to the July session ready to conclude” the annex.
On his way to the G7 summit, Trump, in a Truth Social post from Air Force One, called the fighters “outstanding“ and the South Lawn setting “unsurpassed.”
“The White House has never looked more beautiful,” Trump added.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was the first foreign leader to arrive Monday at the Hotel Royal in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains ahead of the G7 summit.
Brazil, Egypt, Kenya, India and South Korea have been invited to participate in some discussions as partner countries alongside G7 members.
World leaders, including Trump, are scheduled to be formally welcomed later Monday by French President Emmanuel Macron at the start of the summit.
The Hotel Royal, a five-star property overlooking Lake Geneva and the foothills of the Alps, will host leaders through Wednesday. The hotel is set amid expansive gardens with flowerbeds, water features and English- and Japanese-inspired landscaping.
Volker Türk also reiterated his call for the United States to publicly release the details of an investigation into a deadly strike on a school in southern Iran as the war began.
Türk said he “deplores” the use of force by Israel and the United States against Iran that reportedly has left thousands dead and destroyed infrastructure, while saying Iran’s strikes on Gulf countries and Jordan and its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz are “completely unacceptable.”
“I welcome the announcement that the United States and Iran have agreed on a peace deal that provides for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, and a framework for further negotiations,” Türk told the Human Rights Council as it opened its latest session.
“At this fragile moment, it is clear all sides need to exercise maximum restraint and work to implement this agreement quickly and in good faith,” he added.
Trump has fiercely criticized former President Barack Obama for the 2015 nuclear agreement that Trump argued failed to stop Tehran from advancing toward a weapon and funneled billions into the Islamic Republic’s coffers.
In 2018, Trump exited the deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. Britain, China, France, Germany, Russia and the European Union were also signatories to the pact.
But Trump’s deal is also expected to include some sanctions relief and economic incentives for Tehran as it meets certain benchmarks aimed at assuaging White House concerns,
Trump, in a new interview with The New York Times, pushed back on comparisons to the Obama-era nuclear deal.
“We negotiated from strength,” Trump said. “He was basically paying them off.”
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer welcomed the breakthrough in talks between the United States and Iran, calling it a hugely significant opportunity to secure stability in the region.
Speaking at the start of a news conference at his No. 10 Downing Street office, Starmer said it was vital that all parties in the region seize the opportunity to restore freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We will now work closely with our partners to support this agreement and to ensure that it turns into a durable, lasting peace,’’ he said.
In a separate development, Trump ahead of departing for the summit said in an interview with the New York Post he has warned Macron the US will “have no choice” but to slap 100% tariffs on French wines unless Paris eliminates its digital tax on American tech companies, renewing a long-running threat from the Republican that dates to his first administration.
Wines and spirits exported to the U.S. from the European Union currently face a 15% tariff.
Israel’s defense minister said Monday his country won’t withdraw from land seized in Lebanon as the interim deal between Iran and the United States is pending.
Israel Katz’s remarks represented the first official Israeli comment after the announcement of the interim deal. The two sides plan to meet Friday in Geneva to sign it, Pakistan has said.
Katz said Israel plans to stay “indefinitely” in lands it holds in Lebanon, as well as Syria and the Gaza Strip. Iran has tied the interim deal over the war to halting Israel’s attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Katz also threatened that if Iran attacks Israel over Israeli strikes in Lebanon, Israel will strike Iran with “great force
