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(Bloomberg) — President Donald Trump will meet with US partners in the Middle East at the Group of Seven leaders’ summit in France next week, underscoring the outsized role the war in Iran continues to play as European allies grapple with the global economic fallout.
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The president will hold bilateral meetings with the leaders of France, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Egypt as well as India, according to senior administration officials who briefed reporters on the upcoming trip on the condition of anonymity. India and the Middle Eastern countries are not part of the G7.
The US and Iran are closing in on an agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, which could be signed as early as Sunday on the sidelines of the summit.
The Trump administration believes it has a strong deal, one of the US officials said, adding that there are many actions that other G7 member nations can take once the agreement with Iran moves forward.
The president is expected to focus on economic development and security, supply chain resilience, artificial intelligence, regulatory streamlining and energy abundance, the officials said.
The meeting at Évian-les-Bains from June 15 to June 17 comes at a time of growing tensions between the US and many of its largest economic and security partners.
The war delivered a global energy shock with Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway for oil and gas shipments, roiling financial markets, causing gasoline prices to spike and raising fears about the impact on global growth. Trump has lashed out at European allies for not doing more to help open the strait, even again floating the prospect of the US exiting the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Asked about concerns that the US may pull back on some of its defense commitments in Europe, including reducing the number of aircraft and warships as part of the NATO alliance, officials said they were happy with some of the burden-shifting to European countries and would like to see more.
Trump also is pushing ahead with efforts to rebuild his tariff wall after a court setback this year, further straining economic ties and fueling uncertainty for major trading partners that already have deals with the US.
The G7 gathering, bringing together the leaders of the US, France, Germany, the UK, Canada, Italy and Japan as well as the European Union, is expected to address trade broadly — including with China — as well as critical minerals sourcing, artificial intelligence and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
