TORONTO - Top finance leaders from the G7 nations gather in Canada starting Tuesday, with concerns including war in Ukraine at the fore while the advanced economies grapple with fallout from US President Donald Trump's sweeping tariffs.
In talks running through Thursday, leaders are set to discuss global economic conditions, with participants seeking a common position on Ukraine, while issues like non-market practices are also on the agenda.
Ukrainian Finance Minister Sergii Marchenko also will be present at the meeting of Group of Seven finance ministers and central bank governors in Canada's western province of Alberta.
The talks come amid an uncertain approach among the G7 democracies towards the war in Ukraine -- after Russia's invasion in 2022 -- since Trump returned to the presidency this year.
Once broadly unified, the G7 -- Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States -- has been rattled by Trump, who has reached out to Russia and slapped tariffs on both allies and competitors.
Trump said Russia and Ukraine would start peace talks after he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday.
A source briefed on US participation in the G7 meeting in Banff, Alberta said Washington is not inclined to "do a communique just for the sake of doing a communique." They said a consensus will have to align with Trump administration priorities.
Canada's Prime Minister Mark Carney earlier invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to the G7 summit in June, and Ukraine's Marchenko is due to field media questions on Tuesday.
A US Treasury spokesperson said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent would look to get the grouping "back to basics and focused on addressing imbalances and non-market practices in both G7 and non-G7 countries."
The source briefed on US participation noted it was unacceptable from the G7's perspective that countries would allow China's excess industrial capacity to flood their domestic sectors, adding that this would be on the agenda.
While the grouping discusses policies and solutions to issues like trade, security and climate change, analysts warn of unpredictability as leaders deal with internal tensions.