Several hot issues are on the menu this Monday 26th August at the G7 Summit in Biarritz: customs negotiations with the US, tensions with Iran or fires in the Amazon.
Last day Monday 26th August 2019 of the G7 summit in Biarritz , a summit marked by the surprise visit of the Iranian Foreign Minister Sunday, the concerns caused by the US-China trade war, but for the time without result on the fires in the Amazon.
The seaside city of Biarritz in south-west France is living its last hours under the ultra-secure bell of the G7, which will end in the middle of the afternoon with a series of press conferences of the various leaders gathered since Saturday.
The highlight of the day, the host president, Emmanuel Macron, could hold a joint press conference with the host of the next G7, Donald Trump, hostile to multilateralism.
The two men, who have a seemingly cordial relationship, showed at this weekend’s summit their very different approaches to what a G7 should be.
Read also: Brazil goes into action against fires in the Amazon
Donald Trump held bilateral meetings and talked mostly about economics and trade, Emmanuel Macron mobilized on the fire crisis in the Amazon and especially hit a diplomatic coup by bringing on Sunday the Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif in Biarritz to talk about the Iranian crisis.
Mr Zarif met Emmanuel Macron and his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian as well as representatives of the other two European countries – Germany and Great Britain – signatories of the 2015 Iran International Nuclear Agreement denounced by the United States . Washington applies maximum pressure on Iran’s leaders, who respond by gradually resuming their nuclear activities.
“The road is difficult” but it “is worth trying,” tweeted the head of Iranian diplomacy after the discussions, deemed “positive” by the French presidency.
Iran’s active diplomacy in pursuit of constructive engagement continues.
Met @EmmanuelMacron on sidelines of #G7Biarritz after extensive talks with @JY_LeDrian & Finance Min. followed by a joint briefing for UK/Germany.
Road ahead is difficult. But worth trying. pic.twitter.com/oXdACvt20T
— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) 25 August 2019
Commercial War, Brexit
Among other topics widely discussed: the trade war between the United States and China, which worries the leaders together, fearing that this will lead to a global economy faltering towards recession.
But Donald Trump was inflexible, continuing his logic of confrontation with Beijing saying that his only regret was not to tax even more heavily Chinese exports.
Finally, the fires in the Amazon, added to the menu of the summit by Emmanuel Macron at the last minute, causing a crisis with Brazil’s climate-sceptical president Jair Bolsonaro, were certainly mentioned, but the leaders had not Sunday night announced concrete measure.
Nor has there been any progress on the taxation of digital giants, a bone of contention between France, which voted a tax on their turnover in the territory, and the United States. , who threaten to tax French wines in retaliation.
The summit, extended by France to several other non-member countries in a bid to renew the exercise, was also the first big round of the new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in full negotiation with the European Union on the terms of Brexit.
Biarritz has found that there is no progress on the issue of the Irish border, a stalemate in the negotiations, as the big date of October 31 to which the United Kingdom will be the EU.
Mr. Johnson also took the opportunity to charm Donald Trump, hoping to establish with Washington trade relations privileged to cushion the shock of Brexit.
On the security front, the French government has passed the test successfully, he who wanted to avoid at all costs to see the summit enamelled with violent demonstrations as France has experienced last winter during the crisis of yellow vests.
The authorities had deployed more than 13,000 policemen and gendarmes and locked the region, prompting the organizers of events to reconsider their ambitions downward, denouncing an oversized device.
To close this sequence, Emmanuel Macron will be questioned Monday evening in the newspaper of the public television channel France 2, in a will to report to the French of the results of the summit.
