Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) nations were assembled in Italy on Friday to start a two-day summit in which U.S. President Donald Trump was likely to face peer pressure on his contrarian stances on trade and the environment.
The G7 is an informal forum on global governance comprising the United States, Canada, France, Britain, Germany, Italy and Japan. Trump's election last year on a protectionist and climate-sceptic agenda has put him at odds with partners.
"We will have a debate on issues concerning hundreds of millions people, perhaps we can say concerning all of humanity," Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni said on Thursday. "It will not be an easy debate," he added.
The talks in Taormina, Sicily, will offer "the first real opportunity for the international community to force the US to show its hand on protectionism and environmental policy," Dr. Tristen A Naylor of the G7 Research Group, a think tank, said.
The summit is bringing together leaders with largely untested personal relationships. Naylor noted that for the first time since 1981, four of out of seven participants - the leaders of the US, France, Britain and Italy - are at their first G7 summit.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the veteran of the group and leader of a strongly export-oriented economy, and France's new President Emmanuel Macron, a climate action champion, are seen as having some of the best credentials to challenge Trump.
While Trump has met all of the leaders one on one, this will be the first time all seven are around the same table, including also newcomers Macron of France, Theresa May of Britain and the Italian host, Paolo Gentiloni — forging a new dynamic after a year of global political turmoil amid rising nationalism.
In Taormina, leaders were also expected to reaffirm unity against terrorism in the wake of the Manchester attack, and discuss migration and African development at the behest of host Italy, the country that is bearing the brunt of Mediterranean migrant landings.
May said she would attend only Friday's discussions, due to touch upon security, trade and climate issues, skipping a Saturday meeting with African partners and a final working session.
Climate policy promises to be the real buzzkill at the G7 party. Endorsing measures to combat terror is expected to find easy agreement, especially after the attack on an English pop music concert killed 22 people Monday night. But some of the trust that fuels such meetings was undermined by a leak of British intelligence in the Manchester attack blamed on a U.S. official, prompting the Britain to decide not to share further intelligence in the case. Trump is also going against the grain on trade with more protectionist stand.
His pending review of U.S. climate policies and decision not to make up his mind before Taormina has braced environmentalists for the possibility of bland language that says little after years of increasingly stronger commitments to reduce reliance on fossil fuels and emissions of in greenhouse gases under the Paris Agreement.
"What we do not want to see is a false compromise on nothing," said Tobias Muenchmeyer, a political expert for Greenpeace. "We want to see determination and commitment over unity," with the other partners going ahead without the United States.
Trump's attempts to impose a U.S. travel ban on some Muslim countries contrast with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's position that immigration is a source of strong, sustainable inclusive growth. Sicily is on the front lines in Europe's migration crisis, the first landfall for most of the more than 180,000 migrants who arrived in Italy last year — and the reason the Italian government chose Sicily as the backdrop for this summit.
The U.S. has already blocked pro-free trade declarations and the G20, a larger international forum, while it is withholding decisions on whether to pull out of the Paris Agreement on climate change until after Taormina.
The final communique from Taormina could give important pointers on the course of US policy, which has been a puzzle amid mixed signals from Trump on several other fronts, including relations with Russia, Syria, North Korea and Iran.
Diplomats said the text was going to be "considerably shorter" than the one issued at last year's summit in Ise-Shima, Japan, which was 32 pages long, accompanied by six side declarations on terrorism, corruption, global health and other issues.
Talks were taking place amid tight security, with leaders secluded in Taormina and journalists and other observers kept in nearby Giardini Naxos. Shopfronts in the beach town were being boarded up due to fears of possible violence at a Saturday anti-G7 march.