The world's leading economies have pledged renewed multilateral cooperation to tackle growing threats to global economic stability stemming from the war in the Middle East, after high-level talks in Paris that also exposed strains between the United States and several of its allies.
Finance ministers and central bank governors from the G7 met in Paris on Tuesday as economies worldwide grapple with the fallout from the US-Israeli war on Iran.
European nations are also growing increasingly uneasy over the sweeping tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump's administration and what some see as a softening US stance towards Russia.
France's finance minister, Roland Lescure, described the discussions, which were attended by US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent, as frank but productive.
"We have had frank, sometimes difficult, direct discussions to find long-term and short-term solutions to major global economic challenges in order to guarantee economic stability," Lescure said after the meeting.
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Despite disagreements on several major issues, the final communiqué reaffirmed the G7's "commitment to multilateral cooperation in addressing risks to the global economy".
Against the backdrop of the escalating conflict in the Middle East, ministers warned that the global economy faced "multiple and complex challenges requiring coordinated responses".
The communiqué added that "economic uncertainty has heightened risks to growth and to inflation, amid the ongoing conflict".
S/upply chain concerns
0en the influence and relevance of the G7 – made up of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK and the US – countries outside the group including Brazil, India, Kenya and South Korea were invited to participate in the Paris discussions.
Lescure struck an optimistic tone about progress made during the talks, particularly on strategic economic issues likely to dominate the Evian summit.
“I think we have made considerable progress in the work, so that our leaders can, I hope at least, conclude it on such important, very concrete issues as critical minerals and the resolution of global imbalances,” he said.
Divisions emerge
Even as ministers attempted to project unity, divisions emerged over Russia and energy policy as crude oil prices surged on the back of instability in the Middle East.
The US unsettled several allies by announcing a temporary extension to the suspension of sanctions on Russian oil stored at sea. Lescure insisted that the "willingness to keep pressure on Russia was unanimous", but European officials publicly voiced frustration with Washington's move.
Before the second day of talks began, EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis criticised the latest sanctions waiver.
"From the EU's point of view, we do not think that this is a time to ease pressure on Russia," Dombrovskis said. "Russia is in fact the one gaining from the war in Iran and the rise in fossil fuel prices. If anything, we should be strengthening the pressure."
Washington announced the measure after the first day of meetings on Monday, with Bessent writing on X that the decision would "provide additional flexibility" and "help stabilise the physical crude market".
Dombrovskis noted that US officials had sought to reassure European partners that the measure would be temporary. "Secretary Bessent was reassuring us that this is a temporary measure, but we know that it is already a second extension of a measure which initially was meant to last only 30 days," he said.
Bessent later described his Paris meetings as "constructive discussions" covering global imbalances, cybersecurity, "the terrorist threat posed by Iran" and access to critical minerals.
Critical raw materials are expected to become one of the defining issues at the Evian summit, as Western nations seek to reduce their dependence on Chinese supplies. Several G7 countries accuse China, which is not a member of the bloc and was not invited to the meetings, of restricting exports and exploiting its dominant position in the global critical minerals market.
(With newswires)
