On the 6th, U.S. President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney held a summit meeting at the White House. Reuters = Yonhap News.
U.S. President Donald Trump will visit Canada to attend the Group of Seven (G7) summit, which will be held from the 15th to 17th of next month. Depending on the situation, there is a possibility he may meet with the new President of South Korea, who will be inaugurated on the 4th of next month.
On the 22nd, White House spokesperson Caroline Rebitt announced, “President Trump will visit Canada from the 15th to the 17th of next month to attend the G7 summit.” This will be President Trump’s first attendance at the G7 summit since taking office in January.
This will also be President Trump’s first visit to Canada since his inauguration. The Canadian public’s sentiment towards President Trump is intense, as he has expressed on multiple occasions after his victory in the November election last year that he wishes to annex Canada as the ’51st state’ of the United States.
Riding on this anti-Trump sentiment, Canada’s ruling Liberal Party secured a victory in the national elections held on the 28th of last month. With the election victory and the extension of the regime, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to hold a summit meeting with President Trump during his visit.
The G7 summit, which is being held in Kananaskis, Alberta, Canada, may serve as the international debut for South Korea’s new president, who will be inaugurated on the 4th of next month. The host country of each conference has the discretionary power to invite observer countries, and Canada, the host this time, started the process late due to its recent election schedule. If South Korea’s new president is elected, an invitation could be facilitated through communication between the leaders of South Korea and Canada. In recent years, South Korea was invited to the G7 meetings in 2023 (Japan) and 2021 (United Kingdom).
If invited, the new president will appear on the international stage just about 10 days after taking office. Since President Trump will attend the meeting, there could be a first summit between South Korea and the U.S.
If not invited to the G7 meeting, the new South Korean president is likely to meet President Trump at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) summit to be held in The Hague, Netherlands, from the 24th to the 26th of next month. President Trump is expected to attend the meeting in The Hague as well. Previously, NHK reported that NATO has decided to invite leaders from four Indo-Pacific countries, including South Korea, to the summit. NATO has been consistently inviting four Indo-Pacific countries, including South Korea, to its meetings.