The question now is not whether but how to move forward without the United States. Strong, clear cooperation among the world’s other leading democracies can help maintain momentum on key global priorities even as America withdraws.
1. Defend Ukraine and build on agreement regarding Russia’s frozen assets
As Russia’s war of aggression rages on into its third year—and as President Trump has undermined U.S. support for Ukraine—G7 leaders must reaffirm red lines that should not be negotiable: continued military and economic support for Ukraine, rejection of any formal recognition of illegally annexed territories, and unambiguous support for Kyiv to pursue its own international arrangements. These are not just positions of solidarity; they are investments in a European security architecture that holds.
G7 members must also move from partial implementation to full operationalization of their signature commitment from last year’s summit: using frozen Russian sovereign assets to support Ukraine’s reconstruction. Since the 2024 agreement on the Extraordinary Revenue Acceleration (ERA) loan program, the G7 and the European Union have made initial progress by channeling interest accrued on more than €300 billion in immobilized Russian central bank assets toward a $50 billion aid package for Ukraine. The European Commission disbursed the first €3 billion tranche in March 2025, signaling real movement. However, the work is far from complete.
To build on the agreement and ensure impact, G7 members should take two critical steps. First, they must strengthen the disbursement mechanism—currently based only on interest proceeds—by exploring options to leverage the principal through a dedicated international fund. Second, they must secure the long-term immobilization of these assets. This requires overcoming procedural obstacles within the EU, where sanctions must be renewed by unanimous consent and are vulnerable to vetoes by spoilers such as Hungary.
Only by turning political will into enforceable action can the G7 demonstrate that aggression carries consequences—and that international law and accountability remain more than aspirational ideals.
2. Safeguard stability, address nonmarket competition, and recommit to mutually beneficial trade
Between G7 leaders, perhaps no topic is as fraught as trade. Rather than focusing on the challenge of nonmarket competition from countries such as China, which should animate the G7, the Trump administration has launched an unprecedented trade war that treats friend and foe alike, imposing vast country-specific tariffs that undermine the concept of nondiscrimination central to rules-based trade. Global supply chains are struggling in the face of these reckless and ever-changing trade policies, which are bringing the world to the precipice of recession and increasing costs for consumers both here at home and abroad.
The Trump administration’s on-again, off-again tariffs have taken the G7’s focus off the real potential to use trade as a means to increase global prosperity and to create more equitable and sustainable economies. G7 leaders should avoid placating the Trump administration’s unilateralism and instead affirm their commitment to advancing free and fair trade; a level playing field for all, including through the improvement of working conditions; and mutually beneficial economic relations through an updated, strengthened multilateral trading system. G7 leaders should also agree to further collaborative investments in building industrial capacities in each market, as well as in like-minded countries around the world. They should continue to promote diversified and resilient supply chains to reduce critical dependencies and vulnerabilities, particularly in sectors such as clean energy that are essential in the fight against climate change. And they should commit to further coordination of carbon accounting measures to ensure the alignment of current and future climate-aligned trade measures.
Finally, China’s often predatory export policies require a coordinated response from the G7. G7 leaders should make clear that China’s practices pose a threat to the competitiveness of all nations and destabilize the supply chains on which the global economy rests. The G7 should commit to working in a collaborative manner—and with other like-minded governments—to reduce the concentration of critical supply chains in China and to protect workers from unfair, nonmarket competition.
3. Address the humanitarian emergency in Gaza, end the war, and work toward a stable Middle East
As the conflict between Hamas and Israel persists late into a second year, the humanitarian situation in Gaza has reached catastrophic levels. Since early March, the Israeli government has imposed a blockade on aid entering the enclave; despite allowing some aid to enter in recent weeks, more than 2 million people—practically the entire population of Gaza—still face food insecurity, widespread hunger, and malnutrition as the situation rapidly approaches famine. Several among the G7 nations—including stalwart allies of Israel such as Germany, France, and the United Kingdom—recently announced that they are reviewing their relations with Israel as a result of its actions in preventing aid access and its other violations of international law.
At the same time, Hamas still holds 58 hostages, 20 of whom are believed to be alive but in poor physical and mental health. The G7 should maintain pressure on Hamas to release the hostages immediately. Despite a ceasefire at the beginning of President Trump’s second term and negotiations since, the Trump administration has failed thus far in diplomatic efforts to secure an enduring end to hostilities in Gaza that would free the hostages. While Trump has recently given the impression of distance with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he has not exhibited the will to apply the necessary pressure on Netanyahu and Hamas to bring the conflict to an end. The G7 nations should use the Alberta summit as an opportunity to build on member states’ concerns and declare forcefully that failing to end the conflict, return all hostages, and remove all restrictions on aid will have concrete consequences for both Israel, particularly in the form of holds on weapons deliveries, and Hamas. The G7 should also affirm that any ceasefire agreement must include a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a commitment to working with Arab partners to develop a long-term plan for Palestinian governance and security.
Finally, the G7 should address other regional issues in the Middle East, particularly ongoing discussions between the United States and Iran on Teheran’s nuclear program. G7 nations and other European and Asian countries have a direct stake in proliferation and would play an important role in the success and sustainability of any nuclear deal. Alberta should be a venue for consultation on the negotiations.
4. Accelerate climate action despite U.S. rollback
Last year marked the first year that the average global temperature reached 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels—a metric that, sustained over decades, the world had pledged to avoid exceeding in order to head off the worst human suffering from climate change. This grim milestone should serve as an urgent call to accelerate the implementation of climate solutions. The Trump administration, however, has failed to meet the moment, opting to position the federal government as a bad actor rather than championing and building on climate policies that truly make America safer, stronger, and more prosperous. The G7 must not allow the Trump administration’s regressive, ideologically fueled hostility toward climate solutions to slow global climate action in the same way that its actions have upended international trade and harmed the global economy.
In 2023, G7 countries emitted nearly 20 percent of the world’s greenhouse gases and represented nearly 45 percent of the world’s gross domestic product (GDP). Therefore, by curbing emissions at home and providing financial resources and technical expertise to other countries implementing mitigation and climate resilience programs, the G7 can have an outsize impact on the response to the climate crisis. Because of the power that G7 leaders wield to accelerate global climate action, they, even minus one, must lead the way in heightening climate ambition going into the annual global U.N. climate change conference, COP30, in November. Implementing climate plans, called nationally determined contributions (NDCs), will be the focus of COP30, and G7 representatives and negotiators should arrive in Belém, Brazil, prepared to show the steps they are taking to put the full weight of their government and resources behind meeting the climate goals in their NDCs.
5. Confront complex crises amid massive financing needs
World leaders will meet in Alberta with only five years remaining to achieve the United Nations’ 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and yet they are far from making the required progress to meet targets on the sustainable development goals. The world is confronting interlinked crises, as 343 million people face acute hunger, worsened by climate change and conflict, and 2024 saw record numbers of displaced people—more than 122 million—fleeing persecution and violence. Massive indebtedness has prevented many poor nations from addressing these crises: 3.3 billion people, according to the United Nations’ “A world of debt” report, live in countries “that spend more money paying interest on their debts than on education or health.”
And yet rather than mobilize to address these destabilizing trends, the Trump administration suspended foreign spending programs and is now seeking to drastically reduce federal appropriations on foreign assistance. Though the United States has been the largest contributor to development assistance worldwide, global development infrastructure and critical assistance programs are now in jeopardy.
Despite the United States’ retrenchment from the development space, the G7 must not deprioritize the urgent needs of millions of the world’s most vulnerable peoples and nations. Complex crises related to food and water insecurity, climate emergencies, conflict, health, and other humanitarian disasters will not wait for action, and they risk instability that will affect G7 countries at home.
In the face of these urgent needs, the G7 should emphasize that these crises are strategic risks and commit to mobilizing increased financial commitments, including through the World Bank. G7 nations should leverage the G7 Development Working Group to coordinate efforts and must double down on efforts to work within and outside the G7 framework to alleviate debt burdens so that vulnerable nations can better address domestic challenges.
Conclusion
The G7 cannot afford to lower its sights to accommodate American retreat. The world’s most powerful democracies still have the leverage—and the responsibility—to act. Alberta must be a summit of ambition, not appeasement. If President Trump won’t lead, others must.