Donald Trump proposes an enlarged G7 without China in the fall

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US President Donald Trump has announced that he will postpone the June 2020 G7 summit in the United States to an unspecified date. A G7 he wants to fall in a version extended to other countries such as Russia, South Korea, Australia and India, and without China.

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“  I do not feel that the G7 correctly represents what is going on in the world. This is a group of countries very outdated,  "President Donald Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Saturday May 30, adding that he would like to invite Russia, South Korea, Australia and the India to join an enlarged summit. The G7 now consists of the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States, which is chairing this year.

"  Designing a third format means completely changing software  "

But the format proposed by the American president seems hardly conceivable for Bertrand Badie, professor at Sciences Po and researcher at the Center for International Research (Ceri). “  The G7 is a format that was invented in 1975 on the initiative of President Giscard d'Estaing, which included seven Western powers. When we got out of bipolarity and notably thanks to the 1997 crisis, but especially that of 2008, we widened this G7 to a G20 which included China and the emerging powers in particular. Both formats exist in parallel today. Designing a third is completely changing software since these famous "G" were designed to be able to create conditions for consultation between powers, he said. An enlarged G7 without China is a G7 of coalition and coalition against the absent. So loyal to himself, Donald Trump is not, in a multilateral logic of concertation, but in a logic sometimes unilateral, and this time, of coalition and no longer effectively of integration.  "

A meeting that could take place in September, before or after the United Nations General Assembly, added Donald Trump, or after the presidential election in November where he will run for a second term.

Chinese Provocation

For the Ceri researcher, it is unlikely that Europe will follow the tenant of the White House in what looks like a sidelining of China. “  Russia was part of the G7, which was then, and until 2014, the G8, and was excluded from it following the annexation of Crimea by Moscow, recalls Bertrand Badie. The situation being identical on this level, we do not see how we could reintegrate Russia and leave other powers out. More generally, will the other G7 members want to follow Trump in a militant and active anti-Chinese policy? It is still unlikely. Europe is trying to play, if not to mediate at least one card which would be its own in the duel between Beijing and Washington, it would be quite strange to see it follow the boss of the White House. As for Japan, it is of course a rival of China, but it is unlikely that Japanese officials will agree to engage in a policy which will inevitably be perceived as a policy of provocation against China.  "

G7 leaders were scheduled to meet by videoconference in late June due to the coronavirus epidemic. But the American president had indicated last week that he could finally organize this large gathering, "  mainly in the White House  " but also potentially partly in the presidential residence of Camp David, on the outskirts of Washington. Angela Merkel had been the first to formally decline the invitation because of the coronavirus, arguably prompting the President to consider other dates.

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• G7
• Donald trump
• Coronavirus
• United States
• China

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