US President Donald Trump's comment at the G7 summit on Wednesday showed his satisfaction with the three-day event and eagerness for his next stop at Versailles Palace. “That palace has a lot of gold. I want to check it out,” he said.
French President Emmanuel Macron triumphantly encouraged Mr Trump to stay for the entire duration of the three-day meeting at Evian-les-Bains, an upmarket spa resort on Lake Geneva by the Swiss border.
“It's one of the most successful” G7s ever, Mr Trump said, thanking Mr Macron, who delayed the high-level event to accommodate the US President's plans to celebrate his 80th birthday with a cage fight at the White House.
Mr Trump arrived at the G7 particularly impressed by French MMA fighter Ciryl Gane and asked his French counterpart to grant him a national distinction – the legion of honour. The National understands Mr Macron gave a non-committal answer.
While organisers insisted Versailles Palace was chosen as a dinner location for the US president to celebrate the essential role played by France in the independence of the US, which recently celebrated its 250th anniversary, it was its gold value that appeared to most interest Mr Trump.
“Versailles is not a gold leaf, Versailles is the real deal,” Mr Trump said. “All it means is I get home later in the evening … and I'm not a big sleeper anyway.”
Crucially, Trump stayed until the end of the summit – a break from previous summits at which he left early. He also endorsed a joint leaders' statement covering both Ukraine and the Middle East. At a moment when allies disagree on almost everything, that level of convergence is significant.
“This G7 meeting took place in an extremely difficult context of global fragmentation, multiple crises, and conflicts,” Mr Macron said Wednesday. “This G7 summit … is objectively a success. It was a moment of unity, quality discussion, and genuine co-operation among the leaders who gathered here.”
Israel shift
On Israel, there was a notable shift in tone. Mr Trump made disparaging remarks about Israel's military operations in Lebanon, suggesting Syria could do a better job of taking on Iran-backed Hezbollah. That was a striking comment from a president who is also Israel's most powerful backer.
But Mr Trump also tempered his criticism, saying Israel was a good partner and had a right to defend itself – just not by bombing entire buildings in Beirut. He also said that contrary to reports, the US had shared with Israel a copy of the agreement it had signed with Iran.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “happens to be a good man – gets a little excited sometimes,” Mr Trump said. “We've had an amazing partnership.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was also at Evian, and appeared to leave with a sense that he had Washington's attention again. Importantly, G7 leaders endorsed a statement promising more air defence to Ukraine and extending the benefit of licences to allow for an increase in Ukraine’s military production.
On technology, what could have been an awkward conversation – the US restricting access to Anthropic's latest AI models on national security grounds – was reframed. European leaders pushed for greater technology sharing to strengthen collective competitiveness against China, and that framing appeared to land. Mr Trump said the meetings on AI were “excellent.”
And if the French needed one more reason to call this summit a success – in the middle of it all, France beat Senegal in their opening World Cup match. As one French organiser put it to journalists, they made a “clean sweep” of the G7.
