EVIAN-LES-BAINS (France) (AFP) – US President Donald Trump on Monday arrived to attend a G7 summit in France, with allies hoping his outline deal with Iran translates into a swift reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Air Force One carrying Trump touched down at the airport in the Swiss city of Geneva, from where Trump was to transfer to the nearby French spa resort of Evian for the summit hosted by French President Emmanuel Macron.
Flush from celebrating his 80th birthday by watching MMA cage fighting at the White House the previous night, Trump had proclaimed “let the oil flow” after announcing the framework Iran deal — a “memorandum of understanding” — had been clinched. But allies will have a list of questions for the US leader, notably on whether Iran plans to charge ships for transiting the Strait. Macron faces a delicate balancing act in hosting the often unpredictable US leader. The New York Post newspaper reported that Trump is threatening to slap a 100-percent tariff on French wine and champagne unless Paris removes a digital services tax.
Iran will be far from the only explosive issue at the three-day meeting, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky due to attend from Tuesday to press for progress in ending Russia’s war on his country. Ukraine on Monday blamed Russia for a missile barrage that killed at least 11 people and sparked a fire at a landmark Kyiv cathedral.
In terms of potential Iranian fees on vessels using the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran on Monday insisted it would charge what it described as maritime service fees and said they should not be described as tolls. Macron told TF1 television: “We defend international law and we will do everything in our power to ensure there is no toll.” “There shouldn’t be any tolls or anything that would enrich those in power” in Iran, he added. The details of the US-Iran agreement have not been disclosed publicly. Macron said the accord had been signed “electronically” with additional annexes yet to be “finalised” on Friday. European leaders are impatient to see the Strait of Hormuz reopened after Iran’s limiting of shipping traffic during the war caused a spike in global energy prices.
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the emir of Qatar and president of the United Arab Emirates will be present for a special session on Iran Tuesday. A parade of world leaders will take place over the next three days, with France keen to expand the reach of the G7 beyond its membership of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United States. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was among the first guests to arrive and was to be joined by other non-G7 leaders including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Beyond politics, Sam Altman, head of artificial intelligence giant OpenAI, Anthropic chief Dario Amodei and Arthur Mensch of their European rival Mistral AI will attend a lunch on Wednesday on protecting minors in the digital sphere. “The aim is to have new agreements, convergences between the G7 countries and its partners…to find common solutions, reduce tensions in the world and improve the state of our economies,” said Macron in an Instagram video. A vast security lockdown is in place for the summit, mobilising thousands of police and troops, an operation that extends to neighbouring Switzerland where protesters clashed with police on Sunday.
The European leaders and Canada will also be keen to remind Trump of the importance of pushing Russia to accept a peace on Ukraine’s terms, more than four years after the invasion of its neighbour. Zelensky on Monday urged a “decisive and substantive” response from the G7 leaders after the latest wave of Russian strikes. He revealed he had proposed a meeting with Russian leader Vladimir Putin at the G7, but that Moscow was “not ready” for it.
Trump’s G7 stay was to begin with talks with Macron on Monday from 1500 GMT, followed by a working dinner with all the participants. Unusually, he is to extend his stay in France by dining with Macron at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris on Wednesday after the G7 finishes. Macron insisted that the meal will not be a “gala dinner” and acknowledged that Trump “needed to stay to the end” of this G7, unlike the previous edition in Canada where the American president walked out early.
© 2024 AFP
