# G7 The Group of Seven is the summit forum of large advanced democracies — the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, and Canada, with the European Union participating. It emerged from a 1975 finance-ministers gathering during the oil shock and has no charter, no secretariat, and no binding authority. Its presidency rotates annually. What the G7 has that the [[G20]] does not is **cohesion**: seven countries with broadly aligned economic systems and security commitments, small enough to produce real agreement. What it lacks is representativeness — it is roughly a tenth of the world's population and a declining share of world output, which is why the G20 exists. Russia was a member from 1998 to 2014, making it the G8, and was suspended after the annexation of Crimea. ## Kananaskis, 2025 The 2025 summit met in Kananaskis, Canada, 15–17 June, hosted by [[Mark Carney]]. **[[Donald Trump]] departed early** as the Israel–Iran conflict escalated. The summit produced a **Chair's Summary rather than a full communiqué** — the diplomatic signal that consensus text could not be reached. One substantive outcome landed and had lasting effect: the **June 2025 G7 political agreement on global minimum taxes**, exempting US-parented groups from key OECD Pillar Two rules on the grounds that US law is already sufficiently robust. That agreement is why the Section 899 "revenge tax" was dropped from the reconciliation bill, and it was implemented by the [[OECD]] Inclusive Framework in January 2026. See [[OECD]]. ## Évian, 2026 The 52nd summit met at Évian-les-Bains, France, 16–17 June 2026 — [[Emmanuel Macron]]'s last as president. The dates were **pushed back a day from 14–16 June to avoid colliding with Trump's birthday and a UFC event**, a scheduling detail that says more about the forum's current dynamics than most of the output documents. Trump attended, stayed, and there were no public blowups. **Nine declarations and statements were adopted**, covering international partnerships, the Bundibugyo Ebola response (over $1bn), cancer, geopolitical issues, migrant smuggling, drug trafficking, online safety for minors, growth, and — the most consequential — **securing critical materials supply chains**, via a non-binding Minerals Resilience and Production Alliance aimed at Chinese dominance. See [[Critical Minerals]]. Trump joined a session with the Ukrainian president and endorsed "unwavering support" including air defense and stronger Russia sanctions. The US secured G6 acceptance of its memorandum with Iran ending the conflict — see [[Trump-Iran MOU 2026]] — though with what one analysis called "vagueness and critical unresolved issues," alongside agreement on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. India, Brazil, Kenya, South Korea, and Egypt were invited as guests. In November 2025 Macron floated inviting [[Xi Jinping]]; Japan objected and the invitation did not happen. ## What Was Kept Off the Agenda Chatham House's assessment of Évian is the most useful single line written about the current G7: > [!quote] Chatham House, June 2026 > "Many of the most important issues facing the world economy today are excluded from the group's agenda." The excluded items were **climate change, reform of the world trading system, monetary and financial stability, and comprehensive digital governance** — kept off at US insistence. That is a specific and legible pattern. The G7 did not fail to reach agreement on trade-system reform; the subject was not raised. A forum that cannot discuss the trading system while its largest member runs the highest tariff rate since 1947 has been narrowed to the topics where agreement was already available. ## Russia and Expansion [[Donald Trump]] has repeatedly called for Russia's readmission. **No readmission or membership expansion appears in any Évian output document, and there is no formal 2026 proposal.** Treat "Russia back in the G7" as standing rhetoric rather than a process — a distinction worth maintaining, because the two are routinely conflated in coverage. ## Why It Matters Here The G7 is the control case against the [[G20]]. Both are non-binding leaders' forums with rotating presidencies and no enforcement power. The US boycotted the G20 in 2025 and took its 2026 presidency to narrow the agenda; it attended the G7 in both years and narrowed the agenda from inside. The difference is composition. The G7 is seven allied democracies where the US is first among equals; the G20 includes China, Russia, India, Brazil, and South Africa, where it is one voice among twenty. The vault's sorting principle — institutions where the US holds structural advantage are kept, those where it does not are left, defunded, or captured — predicts exactly this, and the two forums are close enough in every other respect to make the prediction testable. **The US hosts the G7 in 2027**, chairing it immediately after its G20 presidency. City and date are not yet announced. ## See Also - [[G20]] — the larger forum and the 2026 US presidency - [[OECD]] — where the June 2025 minimum-tax agreement was implemented - [[NATO]] — the overlapping security forum - [[BRICS]] — the counter-bloc - [[Critical Minerals]] — the Évian supply-chain initiative - [[US Treaty and Organization Withdrawal Timeline]]