Kananaskis, Alberta, 18 June 2025 (dpa/MIA) - The Group of Seven (G7) summit had its final day of deliberations in Canada on Tuesday, but without a key player: US President Donald Trump.

On Monday evening, Trump's spokeswoman announced that the US president was returning to Washington early from the Canadian Rocky Mountain resort, due to the conflict between Iran and Israel.

Israel launched attacks on Iran on Friday and retaliatory strikes between the two enemies since then have threatened to ignite a wider conflagration across the entire region.

Trump's hasty departure is a setback for the G7, as the meeting was seen as a test of unity in the face of major international problems.

The summit addressed Russia's ongoing war on Ukraine, in a session attended by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Tuesday. Zelensky had also originally planned to hold bilateral talks with Trump.

Trump made it clear that he did not in any case plan to join a joint initiative to impose further sanctions on Moscow. He suggested that the Europeans could take the lead and expressed scepticism about US sanctions.

As expected, the G7 leaders failed to issue a full joint declaration as the summit closed on Tuesday, instead issuing selected statements on specific topics.

Ukraine was not among them despite Tuesday's discussion on the conflict.

The joint statements instead ranged from wildfires to transnational repression and migrant smuggling, to artificial intelligence and quantum technology.

The leaders condemned transnational repression, defined as an "aggressive form of foreign interference" whereby states or their proxies attempt to intimidate, harass, harm or coerce individuals or communities outside their borders.

It "undermines national security, state sovereignty, the safety and human rights of victims, and principles of international law. It has a chilling effect in our countries," the joint statement said.

"We will redouble our efforts to keep our communities safe, to defend human rights, including the freedom of expression online and offline, and to safeguard our sovereignty."

On Monday, leaders unexpectedly agreed on a joint statement backing Israel's self-defence and opposing a nuclear-armed Iran.

Alongside the host Canada, the G7 consists of the US, Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Japan, with the European Union and an number of other guest countries also joining the discussions.

Russia was excluded from the group - previously the G8 - after it annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula in 2014. That left the remaining members united in their values as Western democracies, though significant differences have emerged between the US and the others since Trump's return to power.

The next G7 summit will be held in the French spa town of Évian on Lake Geneva in 2026, French President Emmanuel Macron announced. The chairmanship of the group of leading democratic economic powers rotates among the member states, with France taking over next year.

Évian-les-Bains is located near the Swiss border in the Alps. The town of 9,000 inhabitants is known for its mineral water spring. It previously hosted a summit of the then-G8 in 2003.

A spokeswoman for the Élysée Palace in Paris announced that next year's summit will take place from June 14 to 16 June.

Unless he leaves office prematurely, this will be Macron's second G7 summit as host. In 2019, he welcomed the group to the seaside resort of Biarritz on the French Atlantic coast.

Photo: dpa