G7 leaders gather for two-day summit in Niagara region

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister is welcoming her international counterparts to the Niagara region as she hosts the Group of Seven foreign ministers meeting.

The ministers are expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, a tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, and the Arctic – notably, American tariffs are not on the agenda.

Foreign ministers from G7 nations as well as many additional ones who are invited are arriving in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Opening remarks get underway this evening.

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also be in attendance for the two-day summit.

Foreign Affairs Minister Anita Anand has already cautioned that American tariffs are not the primary focus of this summit.

Every G7 nation has faced U.S. tariffs in the past year.

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Canada and the U.S. have not resumed trade talks since Trump called them off last month over Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s anti-tariff television ad.

Anand and Rubio have a bilateral meeting scheduled for Nov. 12.

Anand made some brief opening remarks while speaking about the importance of Canada’s Arctic.

“Canada is an Arctic nation – 70 per cent of our coastline, 40 per cent of our land mass is interfacing with the Arctic,” Anand said. “We have an Arctic Foreign policy. The Arctic Foreign policy contemplates greater engagement – not just in Canada’s North but internationally as well.”

“When we open a consulate in Greenland, we are expanding Canada’s diplomatic footprint in another Arctic region,” she said.

The war in Ukraine will also be a main focus over the next two days of the summit after the last foreign ministers meeting ended without a very strongly worded agreement. As well as the tenuous ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

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