The G-7 Just Isn’t What It Used to Be
Fifty years after the first gathering of leading industrial nations, the Group of Seven is seeing its political and economic ambitions languish.
Illustration: Mathieu Larone for Bloomberg
When leaders of G-7 countries gather in the forests of the Canadian Rockies next week, it will have been less than a month since Donald Trump confirmed his attendance. That the US president plans to show up at all is noteworthy — as recently as May 27, Trump said Canada should be the 51st state. But it’s also notable that the so-called leader of the free world waited until the 11th hour to RSVP: The G-7 ticket just isn’t what it used to be.
A half century after the crème de la crème of the world’s economies first gathered in a 14th century chateau to forge a collective response to an oil crisis, the Group of Seven is on borrowed time. The share of the world it represents is declining — now accounting for less than 30% of GDP and 10% of the population — and so too is its influence against Vladimir Putin and Trump. The former’s rejection of the chummy club of insiders arguably put an end to the G-7’s political aspirations; the latter’s America First mindset is now undermining its economic ones.