G7 foreign ministers pose for a family photo during a meeting at the Abbey of Vaux de Cernay in Cernay-la-Ville, outside Paris, on March 27, 2026 (Photo: Alain JOCARD/AFP, Getty Images)
Alain Jocard | AFP | Getty Images
Another Monday, another emergency meeting.
This time it will be a virtual session of G7 finance ministers, energy ministers and central bank governors, again hosted by France. This will be the fourth time the G7 has held a ministerial-level meeting since the outbreak of the Iran war.
I can clearly see how tired I am from the meeting.
The first virtual meeting of finance ministers and central bank governors on March 9 produced a communiqué pledging to “closely monitor the situation and developments in the energy market and… exchange and coordinate.” Criticism of the inaction was swift.
The next day, the Ministers of Energy also held a virtual meeting and took joint action on energy reserves with the IEA to alleviate the crisis. Although it worked in the short term, there was some skepticism about the long-term impact.
Since that day, energy markets have fluctuated wildly, including the biggest one-day movement in oil since the outbreak of the Ukraine war in 2022, and volatility has skyrocketed.
CBOE Volatility Index Year-to-date
Last week, foreign ministers met in the picturesque surroundings of the Abbey of Vaux-de-Sernay to express concern about the protracted war with Iran, but took little direct action.
“What we need is an exit, not an escalation of this war, and that means that for this region to become stronger and indeed more peaceful, there has to be a diplomatic solution. So there can only be a diplomatic solution. It’s just to sit down and negotiate to find an exit,” said Kaja Callas, the European Union’s foreign policy chief.
German Foreign Minister Johann Vardepoel complained that what complicates a coordinated effort against Iran is “not a lack of weapons, but a lack of communication.” He told Deutschlandfuk that the United States and Iran were ready to hold face-to-face talks in Pakistan “soon.”
Iran war is a ‘catastrophe’, G7 ministers warn – but there is little they can do to stop it
The G7 summit scheduled for June is not without controversy. The French government has invited the leaders of India, South Korea, Brazil and Kenya to the summit to be held in Evian from June 15th to 17th. This caused an upset in South Africa, a regular guest representing the continent at G7 level.
French officials said they were not invited because of pressure from the United States, but South Africa believes the Trump administration had threatened to boycott the conference if Cyril Ramaphosa attended. China is also not expected to attend the summit.
So why have meetings between the G7 produced so little actionable results?
The easy answer is to blame President Donald Trump’s “America First” approach for damaging multilateral relations between the United States and its allies. The policy has sparked outrage over protectionism, while his direct criticism of other countries and their leaders has put many heads of state on the defensive.
But that doesn’t tell the whole story. Questions about the G7’s influence grew louder in 2022 after the Russian military invaded Ukraine. Moscow was expelled from the group, and the G8 became the G7. And the war in Ukraine intensifies. Conflicts within NATO and pressure over funding from the Trump administration are exacerbating already high tensions.
Political and economic pressure is mounting to find more meaningful steps to de-escalate and end the wars between Iran and Ukraine, but the G7 looks increasingly unlikely to be the diplomatic vehicle to do so.
This week’s economic data:
Monday: German inflation statistics
Tuesday: EU inflation data, UK GDP data
Wednesday: EU unemployment data
Thursday: N/A
Friday: U.S. nonfarm payrolls data
