Allies from the G7 group of leading powers will Monday seek common ground with US President Donald Trump at a summit in France after Washington and Iran agreed a deal to end the Middle East war.
With Trump arriving in the Lake Geneva resort of Evian-les-Bains in France flush from celebrating his 80th birthday the day earlier, allies will want details on the agreement and the planned reopening of the strategic Strait of Hormuz to shipping.
But Iran will be far from the only explosive issue at the three-day meeting, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky due to attend from Tuesday, after Ukraine blamed Russia for a barrage that killed at least 11 people across the country and sparked a fire at a landmark Kyiv cathedral.
Host President Emmanuel Macron wants to advance a packed agenda of sensitive topics ranging from limiting global economic imbalances to increasing control in the digital sphere, notably AI.
Macron faces a delicate balancing act in hosting the often unpredictable US leader, who hours before attended an MMA cage fight night on the White House lawn in honour of his birthday.
The New York Post reported on Monday that Trump threatened to slap a 100% tariff on French wine and champagne unless Paris removes its digital services tax imposed in 2019 on tech firms.
Macron said in a post on Instagram overnight that the summit will examine the ‘consequences’ of the Iran accord — which is due to be signed in neighbouring Switzerland on Friday — in terms of the implications for Lebanon, the lasting reopening of Hormuz and Iran's ballistic activities.
He later added in a post on X that a UK-France mission to aid the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz had its assets in place and was ‘ready to be deployed’.
European leaders are impatient to see the Strait reopened after the limiting of shipping traffic during the war caused a spike in global energy prices.
Adding to the uncertainty, Iran's Fars news agency said Tehran had added a clause to the framework deal on imposing maritime service fees for transiting the Strait.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the emir of Qatar and president of the United Arab Emirates will 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 Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the US.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, sporting a wide-brimmed hat, 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, the 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 his Instagram video.
A vast security lockdown is in place, mobilising thousands of police and troops, an operation that extends to neighbouring Switzerland on the other side of the lake 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.
Trump's G7 stay will 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.
China, as so often at G7 meetings, will be conspicuous by its absence. But leaders will discuss issues including Beijing's dominance and control in the market for rare earth minerals used in everyday electronic appliances.
