Scoop: Trump to attend G7 summit in France despite friction with allies

President Trump will attend the G7 leaders’ meeting in France in June to talk artificial intelligence, trade and crime-fighting, a White House official told Axios.

Why it matters: It’s customary for U.S. leaders to attend the annual summits, but Trump’s attendance was not a sure thing due to his increasing anger with G7 members like the U.K., France, Germany and Italy for not aligning with his war effort in Iran.

• The White House official said the G7 meeting won’t produce actual signed deals but instead seeks to build consensus on which future agreements can be based.
• Trump’s birthday falls right before the G7 meeting, on June 14. He will turn 80.

Zoom in: The June 15-17 meeting takes place in Évian-les-Bains, in southeastern France. And though Iran will likely be on the agenda, Trump wants to talk business:

• Linking U.S. aid with trade that “are mutually beneficial for both investor and recipient nations,” the official said.
• Promoting the adoption of AI tools developed in the U.S.
• Agreeing to reduce China’s hold over critical mineral supply chains.
• Fighting drug smuggling and illegal immigration.
• Promoting U.S. exports, reducing regulatory barriers and increasing energy production — particularly of fossil fuels.

Between the lines: French President Emmanuel Macron, a target of Trump’s occasional ire, wooed the American president by offering a grand post-summit dinner at Versailles, the height of French Baroque gilded opulence that Trump loves.

• It’s unclear if Trump plans to attend the dinner.

Zoom out: The war in Iran still hangs over the relations between the U.S. and almost all of its major allies in the G7 and beyond.

• Even if an deal is struck between now and mid-June, some rancor might still hang in the air.
• No European countries have aided the U.S. in its effort to guarantee safe passage to cargo vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz, though Trump has said at times he doesn’t want their help and several leaders say they’ll contribute after the war is over.

On Tuesday, during a meeting of the group’s finance ministers in Paris., U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent urged the group to impose more sanctions to fight “Iranian terrorism” and the “financing that sustains it.”

• “Crushing the threat of terrorism compels all of you to step up and join us,” Bessent said at the meeting in Paris.
• “We call upon all our G7 and indeed all of our allies and the rest of the world to follow the sanctions regime so that we can crack down on the illicit finance that is fueling the Iranian war machine,” Bessent said, “and get this money back to the Iranian people.”

المصدر: Axios