Pros, a Rookie, a Brexit Man and a New Heavyweight: G-7 Guide
The optics of summits have always been unpredictable. But they are all about those optics — charting who is on the ascent and who is going in reverse.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is trying to craft the perfect Group of Seven summit image of Britain presiding over a united global effort to fight Covid and climate change, but the optics of these gatherings have always been unpredictable. These events are all about those optics — charting who is on the ascent and who is going in reverse. Canada went down in history in 2018 as that moment when a fed-up Angela Merkel stood leaning forward, arms braced on a table, alongside other leaders facing a cranky Donald Trump to convince him to sign onto a communique he later ripped up anyway.
Italy the previous year was all about the nascent bromance of Emmanuel Macron and Justin Trudeau, both fresh on the scene and with wind in their sails. France in 2019 marked the debut of Johnson, who broke the Brexit ice with allies with a lovely bit of slapstick. The power dynamics can shift, and reveal a lot about the geopolitics at play.