G7 leaders said on Wednesday they stand united to support Ukraine, including its territorial integrity, and agreed to increase sanctions on Russia, in a joint statement.
The unity of the joint statement from the 15-17 June G7 summit in the French lakeside resort of Évian-les-Bains was notable as U.S. President Donald Trump's administration has at times been hard to bring on board, particularly on the thorny issue of how to end the Ukraine war.
It followed what Trump called a "very good" meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other G7 leaders on Tuesday, sparking optimism that a peace deal could be struck. Zelenskyy said he could meet Trump again on Wednesday.
It also reflects how Ukraine has strengthened its position after successful drone incursions weakened Russia's hand.
The G7 leaders also welcomed the preliminary peace deal between the United States and Iran - which Trump signed on the eve of the summit, and said they are ready to contribute to its implementation.
On Wednesday, in a central theme of France's G7 presidency, leaders will turn their attention to critical minerals and global economic imbalances.
France is pushing partners to agree a statement on critical minerals that could include measures to help the West reduce its reliance on China and shield investors from counter-measures and dumping, diplomats said.
China spooked the global economy last year when some industries nearly ground to a halt after Beijing imposed export curbs on permanent magnets made of rare earths - an episode which highlighted how reliant Western supply chains in the energy.
"We are negotiating texts that are significant on critical minerals and, as a consequence, on economic sovereignty," a French presidency official said ahead of the summit.
Measures under discussion in recent months have included price supports, market standards, subsidies and guaranteed purchases, as well as means to scale up private investment in critical mineral supply chains outside China.
However, any measures announced at the G7 are likely to be first steps.
G7 leaders will also discuss how to rebalance global trade and address "predatory competition", mainly by China. France summarises the imbalances as: China produces too much, the U.S. consumes too much and the Europeans invest too little.
France's President Emmanuel Macron sought to engage China ahead of the summit in a last-ditch effort at cooperation. Beijing rejects EU claims of unfair subsidies and has repeatedly vowed "strong" countermeasures to the EU's proposed "Buy European" and revised tech sovereignty rules.
EU leaders will separately debate tougher and a more systematic use of trade defence measures against China's surging imports at a summit in Brussels on Thursday.
The EU last year recorded its largest-ever trade deficit with China of over €360 billion.
G7 leaders will also discuss AI over lunch on Wednesday, including the liability of bots and agents, and how AI presents what is true and false. OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei are expected to attend.
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The first day of the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Évian-les-Bains, France, was dominated by discussions on the Middle East, Ukraine and the global economy, as leaders grappled with multiple crises that have reshaped the international landscape.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened to impose 100% tariffs on French wine and champagne unless France removes its digital services tax on major American technology companies.
Leaders of the world's leading industrialised democracies are gathering in the French resort town of Evian-les-Bains for the latest Group of Seven (G7) summit on Monday, with the wars in Ukraine and Iran, economic tensions and artificial intelligence expected to dominate discussions.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the reimposition of a U.S. naval blockade on all Iranian ports and warned that power plants and bridges could be targeted next week unless Tehran returns to negotiations.
The United States carried out a third consecutive night of airstrikes against Iran, targeting military capabilities around the Strait of Hormuz as Donald Trump announced the reinstatement of a blockade on Iranian shipping and proposed a 20% fee on cargo passing through the strategic waterway.
The death toll from the fire at a live music pub in Bangkok has climbed to 32 after two more victims died from their injuries, according to Thailand's Police Hospital.
Ukraine and Russia exchanged fresh attacks on Tuesday, with Kyiv targeting shipping and energy infrastructure inside Russia while Moscow launched another large-scale missile and drone assault on Ukrainian cities.
The U.S. military announced that it has completed a new wave of strikes against Iranian military targets under U.S. President Donald Trump's orders. The operation targeted command centres, air defence systems, missile and drone facilities, and coastal surveillance sites across multiple locations.
Two British hackers who carried out a cyberattack on Transport for London (TfL) that cost the transport authority £29 million to remediate have been jailed for a total of 11 years.
At least 11 people have been killed and 19 injured in a fire at an orphanage on the outskirts of the Algerian capital, state media reported. The blaze broke out early on Thursday at the institution in the eastern suburbs of Algiers.
A woman whose husband was sucked out of the window of a plane during a Ryanair flight has recounted pulling her husband to safety. Serbian couple Svetlana Maksimovic and Ljubisa Karovic had just settled into a flight with the airline last week, when a loud bang pierced the hum of engines.
Russia launched a fresh wave of missile strikes on Ukraine early on Thursday, saying it had hit military and industrial facilities in Kyiv, as well as key port infrastructure in the southern Odesa region.
Uganda is expected to discharge its final Ebola patient on Thursday, beginning the 42-day countdown required before the country can be declared free of the virus if no new cases emerge, according to a government spokesperson.
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