The World This Week | PM Modi to attend G7 Summit; US, China resume direct talks; Russia bombards Ukraine; Gaza observes Eid amid rubble

PM Modi to attend G7 Summit in Canada

Putting speculation to rest, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday said that he will attend the G7 Summit meeting after receiving an invitation from his Canadian counterpart Mark Carney over a phone call.

“Glad to receive a call from Prime Minister @MarkJCarney of Canada. Congratulated him on his recent election victory and thanked him for the invitation to the G7 Summit in Kananaskis later this month,” PM Modi wrote in a post on X.

“As vibrant democracies bound by deep people-to-people ties, India and Canada will work together with renewed vigour, guided by mutual respect and shared interests. Look forward to our meeting at the Summit,” he added.

This meeting is significant as India and Canada seek to mend relations, which has soured over the past two years. The two countries downgraded diplomatic ties following former Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau’s allegations in 2023 of “potential” involvement of Indian government agents in the killing of a Canada-based Khalistan separatist, Hardeep Singh Nijjar. India rejected the charges as “absurd” and “motivated”.

But the two countries share strong bilateral ties evident in nearly two million people of Indian origin living in Canada, and over four lakh Indian students currently studying there. Beyond people-to-people contacts, key sectors of collaboration between the two nations include pharmaceuticals, agri-tech, energy and climate change mitigation.

The G7 is an informal bloc of industrialised countries — the US, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK — that meet annually to discuss major global issues. Usually, G7 host countries invite some countries as guests or outreach partners. This year, the Russia-Ukraine War and West Asia are expected to feature in the summit to be held in Kananaskis from June 15 to 17.

Ahead of the G7 Summit, where PM Modi is expected to meet UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy is visiting Delhi from June 7-8. Both sides are expected to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) finalised last month.

India-US trade talks to continue

The ongoing trade talks between the US and India will continue into the next week as the two sides seek to finalise the proposed bilateral trade agreement before the 90-day pause on reciprocal tariffs ends on July 9.

A US delegation led by senior officials from the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) and Indian trade officials headed by chief negotiator Rajesh Agrawal held two days of discussions in New Delhi on June 5 and 6.

India currently faces 26 per cent “reciprocal tariffs” under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (1977). The US subsequently paused all reciprocal tariffs on April 9, while a legal battle over the validity of these tariffs (as well as the 10 per cent baseline tariff charged on all countries) is currently underway.

However, the Donald Trump administration has also slapped other sector-specific tariffs such as on steel, aluminium, cars and car parts under a different statute known as Section 232. And it can impose substantial tariffs under other such authorities that are less susceptible to legal attack — with Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 likely foremost among these.

Against this backdrop, The Indian Express reported last week that New Delhi could step up the purchase of American goods ranging from agricultural items to defence equipment — in exchange for concessions on reciprocal tariffs and improved access to the US market for India’s labour-intensive sectors such as textile and leather products.

It may be underlined here that agriculture and automobiles are among the sectors that traditionally enjoy high protection and that the US and European Union (EU) are seeking greater market access for their agricultural products.

Perhaps reflecting a possible effort to balance trade negotiations, India had already stepped up oil purchases from the US, official trade data showed. India’s import of crude oil from the US jumped 11.49 per cent to $63 billion in March 2025 compared to the previous year.

In the meantime, however, the US dismissed India’s notice at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) proposing retaliatory action against America for the Section 232 tariffs on imported steel and aluminium, which doubled last week from 25 per cent to 50 per cent, effective from June 4.

On May 9, India submitted a document to the WTO, identifying the American metals tariffs, effective from March 12, as “safeguard measures”. According to India’s note, the tariffs impact $7.6 billion worth of Indian exports into the US, on which $1.91 billion would be collected as duties. India’s proposed retaliatory measure would result in an equivalent amount of duty collected from products originating in the US, according to the document.

In its response to the WTO on May 23, the US said that India’s contention that the tariffs are ‘safeguard measures’ is incorrect, that the Section 232 tariffs were imposed on national security grounds, and even claimed that India had not followed due procedure in seeking negotiations on the subject.

Amid this, India approved a licence for Elon Musk’s Starlink to launch commercial operations in the country, ignoring his public spat with Trump. India may also be rolling out the red carpet for electric vehicle makers. While Musk’s electric vehicle giant, Tesla, looks to open two showrooms in the country, it has shown no interest in setting up manufacturing operations, which may deal a blow to India’s ambitions to become a global EV manufacturing hub.

But the situation appears to be complicated by Chinese restrictions on rare earth magnets and related materials, which have started affecting automakers across the world, including electric vehicle manufacturers in India.

US, China to hold trade talks

Amid weeks of persisting trade tensions and a tussle over critical minerals, the US and China agreed to hold direct talks on Monday (June 9). The announcement was made on Friday (June 6) by Trump, a day after he spoke to Chinese President Xi Jinping in a phone call.

“I am pleased to announce that Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent, Secretary of Commerce Howard Lutnick, and United States Trade Representative, Ambassador Jamieson Greer, will be meeting in London on Monday, June 9, 2025, with Representatives of China, with reference to the Trade Deal. The meeting should go very well,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform without providing more details.

Trump and Xi also agreed to visit one another during the phone call.

The world’s two largest economies face pressure to resolve their differences, especially amid Chinese control over rare earth mineral exports. Global automakers have warned that the measures could cause production delays and widespread shutdowns because rare earths are employed in key components.

Japanese automaker Suzuki Motor has become the first to be impacted by the export curbs on rare earths as it halted the production of the Swift car, excluding the Swift Sport version, from May 26. Maruti, Suzuki’s subsidiary in India, said earlier this week that there was no immediate impact of China’s restrictions on rare earth magnets, and that the industry was in discussion with the government on the matter, which has been “receptive” and “supportive”.

On April 4, China added seven of the 17 rare earth metals — such as samarium, gadolinium, terbium, dysprosium, lutetium, scandium and yttrium-related items — to a list of export controls two days after Trump’s sweeping ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs imposition. But on May 12, China agreed to remove non-tariff countermeasures issued after April 2, which includes the rare earth curbs, as part of a 90-day deal with the US to slash reciprocal tariffs.

China mines about 60 per cent of the world’s rare earths and makes 90 per cent of rare earth magnets. It monopolised the global rare earth market by leveraging low production costs and advanced, efficient technology. One of the most difficult processing steps is separating individual rare earths from each other, and China has put bans on its technologies for separating rare earths as well as producing magnets. New separation technologies are being developed but are not yet widely used.

Meanwhile, US and Chinese officials traded barbs at a celebration held by a US business chamber in Shanghai on Friday (May 30), as the chamber appealed to both countries to provide more certainty to American businesses operating in China.

Scott Walker, consul general of the US consulate in Shanghai, told a gathering of US businesses aimed at celebrating the 110th anniversary of the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) in Shanghai that the US-China economic relationship had been unbalanced and non-reciprocal “for far too long.” He added, “We want an end to discriminatory actions and retaliation against US companies in China,” reported Reuters.

Last week, speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth warned that China poses a real and possibly immediate threat, and urged countries in the Indo-Pacific to increase their defence spending.

He added that any Chinese attempt to take control of Taiwan “would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world”. China responded by calling the comments provocative and saying “the US itself is the biggest ‘troublemaker’ for regional peace and stability”, Reuters reported.

In the meantime, China is reported to take further steps towards high seas boarding of fishing boats in the Pacific for the first time, risking tensions with Taiwanese fleets and US Coast Guard vessels that ply the region, Reuters reported, citing Pacific Islands officials.

This development comes amid a week of heightened global instability marked by renewed escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war.

Russia pounds Ukraine as peace talks falter

The Russia-Ukraine War worsened this week with Moscow reportedly launching a large drone-and-missile attack on Saturday in Ukraine’s eastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least three people and injuring 21.

The attack on Kharkiv comes a day after Russia launched one of the largest aerial attacks across Ukraine, killing at least six and injuring about 80 people. The attacks prompted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to call for concerted pressure on Russia.

The assault, which was launched in the early hours of Friday and involved 407 drones and 44 ballistic and cruise missiles, followed a warning from Russian President Vladimir Putin that the Kremlin would respond to Ukraine’s large-scale drone strikes deep inside Russia.

The latest escalation came hours after US President Trump said it might be better to let Ukraine and Russia “fight for a while” before pulling them apart and pursuing peace. Russia and Ukraine held two rounds of direct peace talks on May 16 and June 2 in Istanbul, Turkey, which remained inconclusive on a ceasefire, except for agreements on prisoner exchanges.

The second round of talks took place against the backdrop of Ukraine’s “Operation Spider’s Web”, in which a swarm of 117 FPV (first-person view) drones targeted at least five military airbases deep within Russian territory, reportedly destroying 41 bomber aircraft.

This offensive comes just a week after Russia’s massive aerial assault — 367 drones and missiles — on Ukraine, including its capital, marking the largest such attack of the war so far.

As the latest escalation is expected to harden the positions of both sides, Ukraine seemingly continues to pin its hope on the US to put pressure on Russia. Following Friday’s attack, Zelenskyy called for concerted pressure on Russia and wrote on X, “If someone is not applying pressure and is giving the war more time to take lives – that is complicity and accountability. We must act decisively.”

However, during the last peace talks, Russia rejected Ukraine’s offer of an unconditional ceasefire and, rather, demanded capitulation to its conditions. Moscow currently controls about a fifth of Ukrainian territory and insists Kyiv must relinquish it, envisioning a permanently “neutral” Ukraine. Kyiv, on the other hand, demands a full Russian withdrawal and seeks membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO).

Gaza observes Eid amid rubble  

All the while, West Asia and North Africa continued to reel under Israeli offensive, including killings around aid distribution sites in Gaza, and US President Donald Trump’s travel ban on 12 countries, including Iran, as Muslims world over observed Eid al-Adha on Friday.

Israeli attacks continue to kill Palestinian aid seekers who observed their Eid amid rubble and dwindling food supplies. The hope for 2.3 million Palestinians of a ceasefire was dashed once again this week, with the US vetoing a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution demanding an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza.

All 14 other members of the council voted in favour of the resolution, which described the humanitarian situation in Gaza as “catastrophic” and called on Israel to lift all restrictions on the delivery of aid it has imposed since March.

According to The Associated Press, the US vetoed the resolution because it was not linked to the release of hostages and did not condemn Hamas’s deadly attack in Israel on October 7, 2023. The Trump administration also announced sanctions against four International Criminal Court judges, citing the court’s role in probing alleged Israeli atrocities in Gaza and issuing an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Meanwhile, Israeli attacks killed at least 24 Palestinians as they tried to reach aid distribution sites operated by the US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which has closed and reopened several times in recent days, Al Jazeera reported.

The new aid system has been rejected by Arab states, the UN, and international aid groups, saying it is not neutral and has a distribution model that forces the displacement of Palestinians.

Amid this, Netanyahu’s admission that his government has “activated” armed gangs in Gaza to help fight Hamas further compounded the already worsening situation, with the US proposal for a ceasefire meeting a dead end.

The proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, which was reportedly accepted by Israel, was sent back by Hamas seeking some amendments. Hamas wanted a deal that would stop all of the aggression on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, which Israel had refused, saying that they would only be willing for a partial agreement for a period of up to 60 days, Al Jazeera reported.

Alongside its offensive in the besieged Gaza Strip, Israel’s military also launched a series of strikes targeting the southern suburbs of Beirut on Thursday night. The assault forced huge numbers of residents to flee their homes on the eve of Eid al-Adha after Israel issued an evacuation order an hour before the attack.

Israel claimed that its latest attack in the Lebanese capital was launched against Hezbollah, which was allegedly “operating to increase production of UAVs [drones] for the next war” with it in “blatant violation” of the terms of November’s ceasefire. However, Hezbollah denied there were drone production facilities in the targeted locations, according to Al Jazeera.

Iran: travel ban shows US hostility to Iranians

Meanwhile, Donald Trump’s travel ban on 12 countries enraged the Islamic Republic of Iran, which says it showed the US’s “deep hostility” to Iranians. At the same time, the nuclear talks between the two nations remained stalled.

“The decision to ban the entry of Iranian nationals — merely due to their religion and nationality — not only indicates the deep hostility of American decision-makers towards the Iranian people and Muslims but also violates…international law,” a senior Iranian foreign ministry official said in a statement posted on X.

Trump signed the new travel ban on Wednesday, restricting entry into the US from 12 countries –  Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Congo Republic, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen – and imposing visa limitations on seven others.

The current ban is scheduled to take effect at 12:01 am Monday (June 9), giving government agencies and travellers a narrow window to adjust.

The ban, which Trump said was necessary to protect against “foreign terrorists”, is reminiscent of a similar move he implemented during his first term, when he barred travellers from seven Muslim-majority nations. Five of the countries affected in that order appear again in this new list. The ban comes days after a deadly attack in Boulder, Colorado, allegedly carried out by an Egyptian national.

All the while, the US-Iran nuclear talks remained stalled as Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticised an initial proposal from the US in negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme, though he stopped short of entirely rejecting the idea of agreement with Washington.

Over the weekend, the Trump administration proposed the outline of a deal that would seem to allow Iran to continue enriching uranium, but only temporarily. However, Khamenei said on Wednesday that abandoning uranium enrichment was “100 per cent” against Tehran’s interests.

Nuclear enrichment has been a sticking point in the US-Iran nuclear talks. Tehran is now enriching uranium up to 60 per cent — a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels, according to The Associated Press. Last week, Iran rejected a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) that alleges Tehran has increased its stockpile of highly enriched, near weapons-grade uranium by 50 per cent in the last three months.

The IAEA said that as of May 17, Iran had amassed 408.6 kg (900.8 pounds) of uranium enriched up to 60 per cent – the only non-nuclear weapon state to do so, according to the UN agency – and had increased its stockpile by almost 50 per cent to 133.8 kg since its last report in February. Iran said the accusation was “politically motivated” and “repeats baseless accusations”.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, who has led five rounds of talks with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, said Tehran soon will offer its response to the US proposal.

Post Read Questions

Amid ongoing trade talks with the US, why did India submit a document to the World Trade Organisation, identifying the American metals tariffs as “safeguard measures”?

How might China’s restrictions on rare earth materials affect global automakers? What are its implications for India? 

How might US calls for increased defence spending in the Indo-Pacific affect India’s strategic posture in the region? 

Considering China’s growing naval reach, how important is India’s engagement with ASEAN and Pacific Island nations for its maritime security?

How might Israel’s simultaneous operations in Gaza and Lebanon escalate into a broader regional conflict? What challenges do multilateral bodies like the UN face when major powers use their veto power to shield allies?

Send your feedback and ideas to ashiya.parveen@indianexpress.com.