Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations are set to meet Monday in the French town of Evian-les-Bains, with the Ukraine war, trade tensions, and the Iran-US conflict dominating discussions.

US President Donald Trump will join fellow world leaders after announcing a tentative deal with Iran to end the war. France holds the rotating presidency of the G7, which includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the US.

French President Emmanuel Macron has invited several non-G7 leaders as guests: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani. Leaders of Australia, Brazil, Kenya, and South Korea are also attending.

South Africa was disinvited after its ties with the US deteriorated over its stance on the Gaza genocide and treatment of white minorities. Trump has repeatedly raised the issue of alleged persecution of white Afrikaner farmers, though these claims lack factual backing.

AI executives from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, and Mistral AI are also expected to attend. The two-day summit will address the situations in Ukraine and Iran, as well as global economic challenges.

A senior US official said Washington wants “the war to end as quickly as possible.” European diplomats see the summit as a chance to convince Trump that his proposals are too favorable to Moscow. “We are increasingly seeing Europeans beginning to think about a life with less America,” said Victor Cha of CSIS.

Trade and tariffs will be a key topic. Trump imposed broad tariffs on all G7 members last year, and in June threatened tariffs on 60 trading partners. China’s dominance in rare earth minerals will also be discussed.

Source: www.aljazeera.com