President Joe Biden kicked off a series of meetings with world leaders on Sunday in the Bavarian Alps, where the war in Ukraine was expected to dominate conversation as leaders look for ways to counter the conflict’s effects on the global economy and ratchet up pressure on Russia.
Biden joined the leaders of the world’s wealthiest democracies, including Canada, the U.K., Germany, France, Italy and Japan, at the three-day G7 summit that began Sunday, starting with a one-on-one meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, who is hosting this year’s gathering. From Germany, Biden is slated to travel to Spain later this week for the annual NATO leaders meeting.
The meetings come amid tall challenges for Biden domestically and internationally. At home, Biden faces the fallout from the Supreme Court ruling on Friday that eliminated the constitutional right to abortion, and soaring inflation that threatens to pull the U.S. into a recession. Abroad, the war in Ukraine has triggered a looming global food shortage and soaring energy prices.
The G7 leaders met shortly after Russian missiles rocked Kyiv Sunday, hitting a residential building in a city that had been a relative safe haven in recent months.
“It’s more of their barbarism,” Biden said when asked by a reporter about the attack.
As the summit began, the leaders had agreed to a ban on imports of Russian gold, the second largest export after oil for Russia and a significant source of revenue, according to a source familiar with the matter.
“I think you should expect to see a series of steps that are designed to increase pressure in an ongoing way on [Russian President Vladimir] Putin and Russia,” an administration official said ahead of the summit. “We think that the step that’s being taken with gold is a very important illustration of the additional steps that we expect to be taken now and in the weeks ahead.”
The G7 leaders were also expected to discuss a potential price cap on Russian energy exports that would set a limit on how much countries would pay for Russian oil. Despite efforts by countries like the U.S. and Canada to punish Russia by cutting off oil imports, Russia has taken in record revenue since the start of the war because of the spike in oil prices, according to a report by the Center for Clean Energy and Fresh Air.
But G7 leaders also shared a laugh about Putin when they sat down for lunch Sunday before a group of reporters.
As British Prime Minister Boris Johnson debated aloud whether he should keep his jacket on at lunch, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau interjected “you just want to show off your pecs.”
“We have to show that we’re tougher than Putin,” Johnson responded. “We’ve got to show them our pecs.”
“Bare-chested horseback riding,” Trudeau joked as the group laughed.
NBC
