// ECONOMIC SECURITY: TRADE AND INVESTMENT
G7 performance on trade
As trade returns to the centre of the G7 agenda, there is a shift from liberalisation to managing economic security, supply chains and systemic imbalances. The priority now is to translate that renewed focus into durable outcomes
liberalisation and tariff reductions, and slowing trade growth followed by a shift from expanding trade to managing insti- tutional stagnation. G7 summits with the highest percent- age of words on trade were 1979 with 45%, 1975 with 39%, 1982 with 31%, and 1976 and 1978 both with 28%. The 2025 Kananaskis Summit returned close to these levels, with 24%. COMMITMENTS Between 1975 and 2025, G7 leaders made an average of 10 commitments on trade per summit. The most were made in 2023 and 2024 with 51 commitments each (8% and 11% respectively), followed by 2013 with 24 (11%), and 2021 and 1977 both with 21 commitments (5% and 38%). By proportion, 1977’s 21 commitments constituted 38% of the 51 commitments made there. Next came 1982 with 29%, fol- lowed by 1988 with 22%, 1976 with 20%, and 1991 and 1993 with 17% each. Most recently, Kananaskis in 2025 had 5%. COMPLIANCE Compliance by G7 members with the 55 trade commitments assessed from 1975 to 2024 by the G7 Research Group averaged
T rade has been on the G7’s agenda since the first summit in 1975. Under France’s 2026 presidency, the G7 continues to address trade, with a focus on non-market practices in order to improve economic resilience and address global imbalances. In February trade ministers met to discuss inclusive global growth through policies to combat indus- trial overcapacity and unfair practices, modernising the multilateral trading system to strengthen critical mineral supply chains, and improving small parcel flows and e-commerce. They met again on 5–6 May to continue those discussions. DELIBERATION G7 leaders’ communiqués have dedicated 64,688 words to trade, averaging 1,268 words (14% of the total) at each summit since 1975. From 1975 to 1999 trade averaged 20% per summit. It dipped to 8% per summit between 2000 and 2020, and rose to 18% between 2021 and 2025. This trend may reflect the realisation of gains from trade Joanna Davies, senior researcher, G7 Research Group
// JOANNA DAVIES Joanna Davies is a senior researcher with the G7 and G20 Research Groups. She holds an MA from New York Uni- versity’s School of Global Public Health, where her work as a gradu- ate fellow focused on technology and neuroethics, as well as the political economy of resource conflicts. With experience in renewable energy and a background in languages, she is now building on this interdisciplinary foun- dation while completing her solicitors’ examinations in the United Kingdom. Her work is driven by a strong inter- est in the intersection between law, global policy and sustainable development. X-TWITTER @g7_rg www.g7.utoronto.ca
46 // G7 FRANCE: THE ÉVIAN SUMMIT 2026
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