Editorial | Trump misses elephant in the room with expanded G7 summit

United States President Donald Trump, as the host of the next annual summit of the Group of Seven most developed nations, can invite whomever he wants to observe proceedings. That he has chosen Australia and South Korea, countries that are close American allies, and India and Russia, nations that would be useful to push his anti-China agenda, has raised suspicions about his intentions. While such a gathering would not have the representation or clout of the Group of 20 largest economies and therefore limited capacity to deal with the coronavirus crisis, hawks in the American leader’s administration may believe the grouping could be manipulated to confront Beijing’s ambitions. Fortunately, there is little chance of that happening and members would do better to put their energies into focusing on global challenges.

Where and when the summit will take place remains uncertain. The Covid-19 pandemic meant its postponement from later this month at Camp David in Maryland and September is now being touted to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly. But with US presidential elections in November and the possibility that Trump may not be returned to office, other G7 members may consider participating a waste of time.

Trump has not articulated his invitation choices, only contending that the present G7 membership of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US “is a very outdated group of countries”. The inclusion of Australia and South Korea in what was referred to as a “group of 10 or 11” makes sense from a US perspective. India, presently involved in a border stand-off with China on the Tibetan plateau, is seen by the administration as a valuable security partner to counter Beijing’s influence in Asia. But Russia is a less obvious choice; once part of an enlarged G7, it was forced out in 2014 over its annexation of Crimea and its poor relations with the West and forging of closer ties with China make it an unlikely ally.