ÉVIAN-LES-BAINS, France — Group of Seven leaders came to Évian-les-Bains braced for a blowup with U.S. President Donald Trump over Iran and the war in Ukraine.
Instead, they emerged from the first full day of G7 talks unexpectedly optimistic about their relationship with the White House — and a bit less nervous about whether next month’s critical NATO summit in Turkey will go off the rails, according to two senior EU diplomats.
The reason?
Trump’s apparent openness to increasing pressure on Russian President Vladimir Putin to end his war against Ukraine, and his need for help from allies to stabilize a framework ceasefire agreement with Iran. The contours of a deal in which Trump backs Europe on Ukraine in exchange for European help securing the Strait of Hormuz — the major waterway whose closure during the war with Iran sent energy prices skyrocketing — appear to be taking shape.
“The discussions we’ve had among ourselves and with the U.S. president — both in official meetings and in informal encounters on the sidelines — give me a certain sense of optimism,” German Chancellor Friedrich Merz told journalists on Tuesday.
While diplomats cautioned against being too optimistic, pointing out that Trump has previously reversed himself after making pro-Ukraine statements, they also echoed the German leader’s assessment of transatlantic relations despite Trump’s individual spats with many of the G7 leaders.
The sense of relief was palpable among the five diplomats and officials who spoke to POLITICO, all of whom were granted anonymity to candidly discuss closed-door discussions.
A day earlier, Trump had triggered a wave of anxiety by suggesting that the pact between Washington and Tehran would allow him to refocus his attention on a peace deal between Russia and Ukraine.
Concern that the U.S. president could unwind months of efforts by Ukraine’s allies to ramp up pressure on Moscow added to bad blood over the Iran war — which had widely criticized by EU leaders, including Merz — as well as individual spats with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron.
The fact that Trump held a nearly hour-long phone call with Putin on Sunday compounded those fears, hinting that he could snap back to pressuring Ukraine to cede territory and accept a lopsided deal.
Yet Trump, who just celebrated his 80th birthday by hosting mixed martial arts cage fights on the White House lawn, did not appear to be in the mood to go several rounds with fellow world leaders who’d traveled up winding roads to the summit venue at the Hôtel Royal overlooking Lake Geneva.
At turns smiley and subdued, the U.S. president caught summit-goers off-guard by announcing, after a 70-minute sit-down with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and other leaders, that the U.S. would reimpose sanctions on Russia’s oil sector.
“Russia has to make a deal,” said the U.S. president.
Conditional love
As always with the author of The Art of the Deal, however, the overture on Ukraine comes at a price.
Per two senior diplomats who followed the leaders’ exchanges, Trump pressed his G7 counterparts to show support for his Iran deal and offer help with demining the Strait of Hormuz before Vice President JD Vance lands in Geneva to finalize the ceasefire agreement with Tehran.
The U.S. president played down the importance of European help in front of reporters.
“I don’t think we’re going to need much help,” he said on Monday.
But the president was more conciliatory behind closed doors, seeking both verbal and material support for the Iran deal.
“He [Trump] will need the capacities of his allies of the G7 and others … to clear Hormuz of mines,” said one of the diplomats.
In exchange, “there’s got to be some give on Ukraine,” added the diplomat. “There’s a very strong expectation that he will stand by Ukraine. That’s what he told the leaders.”
G7 leaders, in response, signaled they were ready to help — under certain conditions.
Macron said the deployment of mine-clearing ships “needs to be requested and wished for by the United States and then Iran and Oman, the parties involved in the deal.”
Golden ticket to Versailles
Despite the transactional nature of an apparent Ukraine-for-Iran quid pro quo, the upbeat outcome of Tuesday’s summit had plenty to do with G7 leaders’ efforts to charm the U.S. president.
To avoid a repeat of last year’s summit, which Trump left early, Macron has carefully stage-managed Trump’s visit to keep him engaged. The French leader even convinced Trump to extend his stay by inviting him to dinner at the Palace of Versailles outside Paris.
“I was leaving in the afternoon and then the French president, who happens to be a very nice man, invited me to dinner at Versailles. And Versailles is not a gold leaf. Versailles is the real deal,” Trump crowed about his dinner invitation.
Germany’s Merz — who went weeks without speaking to Trump following criticism of his Iran war — gifted him a custom national football jersey embroidered on the back with a 47, which Trump grinningly accepted.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who had her own harsh words over Pope Leo XIV and the Iran war, held what one Italian diplomat called a friendly “clarification meeting” with Trump.
Zelenskyy also came prepared. Appealing to the religious members of Trump’s entourage, the Ukrainian leader shared an image of a burning cathedral struck by a Russian drone attack to leaders around the G7 table, per one of the two senior EU diplomats.
The charm offensive had a political aim: keeping Trump firmly inside the camp of Western powers ahead of a critical NATO summit taking place next month in the Turkish capital of Ankara.
“We just have to get through this and get to Ankara,” one senior EU official quipped ahead of the G7.
It seems to have worked, for now.
Hans Joachim von der Burchard contributed to this report.
