Trump’s G7 Agenda: Ukraine, Iran And Why The EU Is Unfair To U.S. Tech (From FOX News)

From Iran to Ukraine to AI, the G7 meetings brought major issues to light, as seen in a conversation with FOX News hosts Carley Shimkus and Todd Piro. Full clip here and highlights below.

Rebecca Grant: Here we go. Ukraine zooms to the top of Trump’s agenda, and what is different is Ukraine’s long-range drone strikes on a wide variety of targets across Russia’s oil fields, air bases, and other targets. Now, these are a lot of drones that Ukraine has made themselves. They don’t have the biggest warheads, but they’ve been able to do a lot of damage, really hurting Russian oil production back earlier this spring, and this puts a lot of pressure on Putin. Ukraine is pressuring Russia in a way we haven’t seen before, and Russia’s advances on the battlefield have slowed. Ukraine is really holding them. Putin will never have the victory he wanted. He can’t even take the rest of the Donbass, and you’re looking at about 500,000 Russian war dead, and more wounded. This is incredible pressure, and Trump may have a moment to increase the pressure on Putin to agree to a ceasefire.

Carley Shimkus: This is a big day ahead, with a whole lot going on, from talks with Ukraine to Iran. There will be China discussions, as well as discussions over artificial intelligence. What are some of the most important things that the President can accomplish at this G7 summit overall?

Rebecca Grant: I’m glad you mentioned AI, because this is really crucial. You know, we’re in a race to stay ahead of China. Europe’s not as strong in AI, but they sure have a lot of regulations that hurt our best and biggest tech companies. Trump very much wants to see some of that moved off. This issue of staying ahead of China and the AI race is quite essential. I think Ukraine obviously will come up as well. You know, the EU is supposed to begin the process of accepting Ukraine and Moldova, and there you’ve got, in the G7, the key power players who can move that along. Obviously, of course, they’ll also be talking about Iran and that situation. And don’t forget, there is a trade deal that was set up last year, and it’s got to be finalized soon, so that is also going to be part of the discussion to make sure the tariffs stay where they are now.

Todd Piro: I’m glad we dealt China into this discussion. How do you see China, Russia as well, reacting to the G7 overall, specifically President Trump, to your point at the outset, saying Ukraine now at the top of my list now that we have a deal, or at least a memorandum of understanding for a deal, in place on Iran? How do you see those two countries reacting? One, a country that literally is in the war, in Russia, and two, our number one adversary in China?

Rebecca Grant: This G7, so beautifully set up in France, with the world leaders, a lot of great visuals, and that is a direct message to China that the U.S. is still the world leader. These countries that comprise the G7, this is the heart of the world economy, of the rules-based order. Remember, Putin and Russia used to be a member; they invaded in Crimea, and they got thrown out. So I think it’s also a clear message to Russia. Russia is increasingly dependent on China, not just for oil purchases, but for their electronics, their e-commerce; such integration of those two economies. But the real power players are still here in the G7, led, of course, by the U.S. and President Trump.

Carley Shimkus: Thinking about the participants in this G7 summit, the President has, outside of the leader of Japan, tangled with just about all of them, whether it’s over their reaction to the war in Iran, or what the President views as mismanagement of a trade relationship between their country and the United States. So, you have to wonder how these discussions will go today, what the tone and the mood will be between President Trump and these other leaders.

Rebecca Grant: He’s been pretty ticked off at Britain and France and Germany, all in sequence, but, you know, he’s expressed that. He’s had that out. I think that now that this Iran MOU is very close, and that he is turning towards the issue of Ukraine and Russia again, I think Trump is going to be magnanimous. Now he’ll still call them out. We’re still expecting many of these countries to increase their defense spending, but he realizes, too, that the Russian threat and their militarization has really freaked out Europe. There’s a lot of gray-zone, cyber, and other type of conflict going on that Russia is generating into the European sphere, and this is something where we need this group and NATO to hold together firmly. I have to say Japan’s Prime Minister has been amazing in standing up to China and getting Japan more ready to face that threat. What a great ally she is.

Todd Piro: But despite that, Rebecca, there seems to be concern among the European leaders that, when push comes to shove, President Trump is going to pressure Ukraine into territorial concessions in order to push forward a ceasefire, in order to end that war. Do you share those concern?

Rebecca Grant: We know from previous discussions that territorial concessions are certainly on the table. We think that President Trump wants Zelensky to be ready to take a territorial concession, leaving some Russians in place. Personally, I don’t want to see a single Russian on any Ukrainian territory, to include Crimea, but that is where we left the discussions last year. Now, with Ukraine’s battlefield momentum, perhaps that could change, but the idea is take the good part of Ukraine, give them a solid economic future, EU integration, U.S. security guarantees, the minerals deal. Remember all that? And give a Ukraine a viable future going forward. That is President Trump’s number one priority.