Good morning. The G7 returns to Canadian soil this weekend, and so does Donald Trump’s trademark chaos – more on that below, along with a dino discovery and Brian Wilson’s musical legacy. But first:
Today’s headlines
- Canada and the U.S. are exchanging potential terms on an economic and security deal
- Carney hires Hydro‑Québec CEO Michael Sabia to head the federal bureaucracy
- A Canadian was on board an Air India passenger plane that crashed in Ahmedabad on its way to London carrying more than 240 people
An instantly viral photo of then-German Chancellor Angela Merkel and U.S. President Donald Trump.Jesco Denzel/The Canadian Press
G7
A Trumpian redux
You probably remember this photo. It captured Donald Trump’s whole America-vs-the-world view in one comically on-the-nose frame, and it immediately sent people racing to Twitter to declare it a work of art. In fact, they decided, the picture resembled some other masterpiece – though that’s where opinions differed. Maybe it was Caravaggio’s “The Calling of Saint Matthew.” Maybe Angela Merkel’s blue jacket lent it the quality of a Vermeer. Maybe it was Norman Rockwell’s “The War Hero,” but, you know, the opposite.
You might not remember – because I certainly didn’t – that this photo was shot midway through the G7 meeting in Charlevoix, the last time the summit took place in Canada, back in 2018. It had not been an auspicious start, for reasons that may begin to sound familiar. Trump came into the meeting agitating for Russia’s readmission to the group. “Something happened a while ago where Russia is no longer in,” he told reporters. When reminded that Russia had been kicked out in 2014 for annexing Crimea, Trump blamed the invasion on Barack Obama. “He was the one who let Crimea get away.”
Then there were the tariffs. A week before the 2018 leaders’ summit, Trump slapped levies on imported metals from Canada, Mexico and Europe, citing national security threats – 10 per cent on aluminum and 25 per cent on steel. “We have massive trade deficits with almost every country,” the President said before flying to Quebec. “We will straighten that out. It’s what I do.”
It’s what he was attempting in this photo. The leaders had struggled to agree on the language for the communiqué that closes each summit. Everyone else wanted to affirm their commitment to the rules of the World Trade Organization. Trump demanded a line about “reciprocal trade” instead. Some time after Merkel plonked down her hands on the folding table, a compromise was reached: The communiqué would emphasize “free, fair and mutually beneficial trade” that created “reciprocal benefits.”
A wider angle with Justin Trudeau.Handout ./Reuters
The leaders seemed satisfied, Canada released the joint statement, and two-and-a-half seconds later, Trump blew it all up. He’d caught wind of a news conference from Justin Trudeau, where the then-prime minister said Ottawa would retaliate if the U.S. didn’t rescind its tariffs. Trudeau “acted so meek and mild during our G7 meetings,” Trump tweeted, only to attack him after he left. “Very dishonest & weak!” Trump instructed his representatives to denounce the communiqué. He kept the steel tariffs on Canada for a year, even though they did little to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs and just brought prices up.
And so here we are again, in 2025, heading into another G7 summit on Canadian soil. When the world leaders meet on Sunday in Kananaskis, Alta., many of the geopolitical tensions will seem awfully familiar – except as with everything else Trump 2.0, they’ve been supersized. Now he holds Ukraine responsible for the loss of Crimea. He blames Ukraine for the war that Russia started two years ago. Now tariffs can land on anything, in any country, at any moment, and the ones on aluminum and steel are up to 50 per cent. Now Canada isn’t just weak or dishonest. We’re a habitual trade-and-defence shirker destined to be annexed ourselves.
How do you negotiate with a president like that? A full decade after Trump came down his golden escalator, world leaders are still working it out – and they’ll once again make the trip to Canada hoping to cut a deal with the States. It’s why Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum is coming. It’s why even Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is on his way. Sure, there might be some side conversations on transnational crime and wildfire response, but take a last look at that Charlevoix photo. Trump exerts his own gravitational force.
The Shot
Meet the Dragon Prince
A model of a Khankhuuluu mongoliensis skull used for research by PhD student Jared Voris at the University of Calgary. The Khankhuuluu mongoliensis predates its giant relative, the Tyrannosaurus rex.Todd Korol/The Globe and Mail
See that large, hollow nasal cavity? Those laterally compressed teeth? This is the 90-million-year-old skull of a Khankhuuluu mongoliensis – Mongolian for Dragon Prince – and it proved to be the missing link in the T-Rex family tree. Read more about the dino discovery here.
The Wrap
What else we’re following
At home: About 15,000 people have been displaced by wildfires in Saskatchewan, but Premier Scott Moe said nearly half of them could go home this week.
Abroad: Israeli forces killed at least 60 Palestinians yesterday, most of them as they were seeking food from a U.S.-backed distribution site.
In court: In her closing arguments in the Hockey Canada trial, a Crown attorney said that one of the accused, Michael McLeod, lied repeatedly to the police.
In progress: Alberta Premier Danielle Smith believes she can convince B.C. to build a pipeline for her province’s oil.
Pet Sounds on repeat: Brian Wilson, the Beach Boys visionary behind some of the most perfectly beautiful pop music, has died at the age of 82.