President Donald Trump opened his time at the G7 summit in Canada on Monday by saying that Russia, and possibly China, should be included in the group.
“The G7 used to be the G8. Barack Obama and a person named Trudeau didn’t want to have Russia in,” Trump said referring to former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Speaking to reporters, Trump said that Russia would not have started the war with Ukraine if it had been allowed back into the group by previous U.S. and world leaders.
“And I would say that was a mistake, because I think you wouldn’t have a war right now if you had Russia in and you wouldn’t have a war right now if Trump were president four years ago.”
Russia was once part of the G7, an exclusive group of major global economies, but was expelled in 2014 after its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney on the sidelines of the G7 Summit on June 16, 2025, in Kananaskis, Canada. Associated Press
Trump was speaking to reporters after meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who is hosting the G7 summit in Kananaskis, in the Canadian Rocky Mountains.
The U.S. president has levied steep tariffs against dozens of countries, and the G7 leaders are also trying to address the escalating conflict between Israel and Iran over Tehran’s nuclear ambitions.
During the brief press conference, Trump indicated that he would rather have the G7 become the G8 or possibly even the G9, although Russia and China would be authoritarian governments in an organization whose members are democracies.
“This was a big mistake. I wasn’t in politics at the time, but I was very loud about it. You have your enemy at the table…he [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wasn’t really an enemy at that time,” Trump continued.
To a follow-up question, standing alongside Carney, Trump added in later remarks that at this point, maybe, “too much water has gone over the dam” for Russia and Putin to have a seat the G7 table.
Trump added Putin, is “no longer at the table, so it makes life more complicated.”
Asked by a reporter if China should also be added, Trump said: “It’s not a bad idea. I don’t mind that if somebody wants to see just China coming in.”
The U.S. president said it’s important for world leaders to be able to speak with one another at summits.
“Putin speaks to me. He doesn’t speak to anybody else,” Trump said. “He doesn’t want to talk because he was very insulted when he got thrown out of the G8, as I would be, as you would be, as anybody would be.”
What People Are Saying
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney: “The G7 is nothing without U.S. leadership.”
President Donald Trump, to reporters at the White House on Sunday: “I think we’ll have a few new trade deals.”
Matthew P. Goodman, director of the Greenberg Center for Geoeconomic Studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, last week: “Given Trump’s ongoing conversations with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the prospect of any meaningful new G7 action to promote a durable resolution of the 3-year-old conflict is highly uncertain.”
What Happens Next
Including Russia and China in the G7 would mark a significant pivot for the bloc, which has traditionally excluded authoritarian states like China in favor of liberal democracies. Newsweek