President Donald Trump on Wednesday appeared to have warmed up to Ukraine's war efforts against Russia, while telling fellow G-7 leaders, "I'm the boss," as the group welcomed the U.S.' peace deal with Iran.

Trump's comment – a tongue-in-cheek admission of an ⁠unspoken truth hanging over the June 15-17 Group ⁠of Seven summit in France's Evian-les-Bains – followed a joint leaders' statement that could bolster Kyiv's growing leverage in potential peace talks with Moscow.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and his allies came to the G-7 hoping to impress upon Trump that Ukraine's fightback is delivering results ​and that Russia is in no position to be dictating terms for any peace deal.

The joint statement and ​comments ⁠from leaders suggest Trump has warmed to Zelenskyy's argument after years of scepticism.

However, any hopes of strongarming Moscow into peace talks still rely on Trump's commitments, which can be elusive.

It was unclear whether bilateral Trump-Zelenskyy talks would take place, and it remains to be seen whether Washington will allow waivers on sanctions restricting Russian oil exports to lapse, now that he has secured a preliminary Iran deal.

"I'm the boss," Trump told G-7 chiefs and reporters as he arrived to take his seat at a session on global economic security, where leaders were due to discuss supply chains for critical minerals and macroeconomic imbalances.

Trump on Tuesday heralded a "very good" meeting with Zelenskyy and other G-7 leaders.

"There has been a change in position on the part of the United States and President Trump," Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney told reporters. "There is a position that is harder toward Russia and more realistic, in our view, of the situation on the ground of the war."

Iran deal sets tone for talks

G-7 chiefs also welcomed the preliminary peace deal between the United States and Iran – ⁠which ⁠Trump signed on the eve of the summit – and said they were ready to contribute to its implementation.

They said they would make efforts to diversify energy supply routes to reduce dependence on the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked for most of the duration of its war with the U.S. and increase stocks.

France is now pushing partners to sign a joint statement on critical minerals that could include measures to help the West reduce its reliance on China and shield investors from countermeasures and dumping, diplomats said.

China spooked the global economy last year when some industries nearly ground to a halt after Beijing imposed export curbs on rare-earth-based permanent magnets.

"We are negotiating texts that are significant on critical minerals and, as a consequence, on economic sovereignty," a French presidency official said ahead of the summit.

Measures under discussion in recent months have included price supports, market standards, ⁠subsidies and guaranteed purchases, as well as ways to scale up private investment in critical mineral supply chains outside China. Any measures announced at the G-7 are likely to be only first steps.

Over-reliance on China

The 2025 restrictions were the latest in Beijing's gradual tightening of its niche material and battery metal exports. It has also curbed American companies' access to tungsten ​and antimony, among others.

Western powers are racing to secure offtake from mines and build up processing and recycling capacity, but it will take years to dent China's ​dominant position, which was decades in the making.

In early 2026, the U.S. proposed a trading bloc for critical minerals. However, countries are at odds over how this bloc could operate, especially in the context of the White House's "America First" agenda.

Economic imbalances

G-7 leaders were also due to ⁠discuss how to rebalance ‌global trade and address "predatory ‌competition," mainly from China. France summarizes the imbalances as: "China produces too much, the U.S. consumes too much and ⁠the Europeans invest too little."

Alarm is growing in Europe at China's trade surplus and ‌its move up the value chain, in what analysts describe as a "second China shock" following its dominance of low-value industries in the 2000s. The surplus stands at 360 billion euros ($400 billion).

French President Emmanuel Macron sought ​to engage China ahead of the summit in a ⁠last-ditch effort at cooperation. Beijing rejects EU claims of unfair subsidies and has repeatedly vowed "strong" countermeasures to the EU's proposed "Buy European" ⁠and revised tech sovereignty rules.

EU leaders separately plan to debate tougher trade defence measures and a more systematic use of them against surging imports from ⁠China at a summit in Brussels ​on Thursday.

G-7 leaders were also due to discuss AI over lunch Wednesday, including the liability of bots and agents, and how AI presents truth and falsehood. OpenAI founder Sam Altman and Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei were expected to attend.