Canada calls for unity, pushes back on U.S. tariffs as G7 ministers gather in Quebec

Dylan Robertson · The Canadian Press

· Posted: Mar 12, 2025 2:53 PM EDT | Last Updated: 6 minutes ago

Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly is welcoming her counterparts from immoderate of the world's astir almighty countries to Quebec this week arsenic Ottawa works to support unity betwixt Washington and its G7 partners and pushes backmost connected U.S. tariffs.

"We each request to set unneurotic successful the champion mode that we can," said Sen. Peter Boehm, a erstwhile diplomat who played a cardinal relation successful Canada's information successful the G7 for decades.

"Success is getting a connection retired that is consensual, and that touches each of the bases."

The overseas ministers of the G7 nations volition conscionable from precocious Wednesday to Friday day successful the Charlevoix portion of Quebec. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is acceptable to attend, alongside representatives from the U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union.

The ministers are scheduled to clasp an aboriginal day quality league connected Friday.

Those ministers person been facing expanding turbulence astir the satellite successful caller years — a increasing fig of subject conflicts, a immense fig of displaced radical and the West's nonaccomplishment of power to China.

The instability has been turbocharged by U.S. President Donald Trump's instrumentality to the White House. Trump has breached with allies who person tried to isolate Russia successful effect to its warfare connected Ukraine, portion besides imposing economical unit connected Canada and Europe. His connection for vacating the Gaza Strip has been wide interpreted arsenic a telephone for taste cleansing.

The G7 started arsenic a forum to promote wide democracies to acceptable policies done statement successful effect to economical and societal challenges. The group, which has acceptable the code for different industrialized democracies and the United Nations, has been focused successful caller years connected the interaction of Russia's penetration of Ukraine.

Joly said Wednesday greeting that she besides volition usage the gathering to propulsion backmost connected U.S. tariffs.

"In each azygous meeting, I volition rise the contented of tariffs to co-ordinate our effect with the Europeans and to enactment unit connected the Americans," Joly said.

She added that Trump's "unjustifiable commercialized war" is based connected a bid of pretexts and seems to beryllium aimed astatine yet annexing Canada.

Rubio, meanwhile, has said the G7 gathering volition absorption connected Ukraine and North American security.

"It is not a gathering astir however we're going to instrumentality implicit Canada," Rubio told reporters successful Ireland, adding Trump's tariffs are "policy decisions" and that Trump himself is putting guardant the thought of Canada joining the U.S.

"He's made an statement that it's their involvement to bash so. Obviously the Canadians don't agree, apparently," Rubio said.

WATCH | U.S. congressman introduces measure to halt Trump from invading Canada: 

Canada holds the rotating G7 presidency this twelvemonth and a nationalist leaders' acme is planned for June successful Alberta. This week, overseas ministers volition conscionable to sermon galore challenges, starting with a Thursday league connected "strengthening the G7."

There volition beryllium different moving sessions focused connected geopolitical challenges. The national authorities says they volition see the Middle East, "stability successful the Indo-Pacific region" and instability successful Haiti, Venezuela, Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Joly besides volition person galore bilateral meetings wherever she volition person a accidental to propulsion Canada's ain interests.

Those meetings could interaction connected reviving stalled commercialized talks with the U.K., boosting subject collaboration with Germany oregon advancing artificial quality enactment with France.

Boehm said Ukraine's plight volition loom ample successful the closed-door moving sessions. Canada has chosen Ukraine's information arsenic its apical precedence arsenic G7 chair. Ottawa has argued that if Russia is not punished for its invasion, different countries volition effort to get territory by force.

Europeans accidental the warfare indispensable extremity connected presumption that forestall Moscow from attacking Ukraine again oregon encroaching connected different neighbouring states. But the U.S. has pushed backmost connected the thought of deploying troops to unafraid a ceasefire.

Trump's medication alternatively suggests that caller American mining projects successful Ukraine would dissuade Moscow from invading.

"The situation is to spot if determination tin beryllium immoderate mediate crushed that volition conscionable the concerns" of some Europe and the U.S. connected Ukraine, Boehm said.

Canada, meanwhile, has been astatine the forefront of efforts to usage Russian currency successful frozen slope accounts — oregon astatine slightest the involvement earned connected those accounts — to assistance money Ukraine's defence. The G7 has taken archetypal steps to usage existent and aboriginal involvement connected those accounts arsenic collateral for loans that Ottawa issues to Kyiv.

Ottawa has been pushing to further this effort with enactment from peers specified arsenic the U.K., but different European leaders person been hesitant astir tapping into existent frozen accounts.

Boehm said the G7 ministers' closing connection could beryllium akin to 1 they released successful mid-February, connected the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference. The ministers had skirted topics similar U.S. tariffs but recovered statement connected issues specified arsenic Syria, Iran and the Indo-Pacific.