Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of Seven (G7) democracies have pledged to address “excessive imbalances” in the global economy and said they could increase sanctions on Russia.
The G7 announced the plan on Thursday as the officials, who met in the Canadian Rocky Mountains, said there was a need for a common understanding of how “non-market policies and practices” undermine international economic security.
The document did not name China, but references by the United States and other G7 economies to non-market policies and practices often are targeted at China’s state subsidies and export-driven economic model.
The final communique called for an analysis of market concentration and international supply chain resilience.
“We agree on the importance of a level playing field and taking a broadly coordinated approach to address the harm caused by those who do not abide by the same rules and lack transparency,” it said.
Lowering Russian oil price cap
European Commission Executive Vice President Valdis Dombrovskis said the G7 ministers discussed proposals for further sanctions on Russia to try to end its war in Ukraine. They included lowering the G7-led $60-per-barrel price cap on Russian oil, given that Russian crude is now selling under that level, he said.
The G7 participants condemned what they called Russia’s “continued brutal war” against Ukraine and said that if efforts to achieve a ceasefire failed, they would explore all possible options, including “further ramping up sanctions”.
Russia’s sovereign assets in G7 jurisdictions would remain immobilised until Moscow ended the war and paid for the damage it has caused to Ukraine, the communique said. It did not mention a price cap.
Brent crude currently trades at around $64 per barrel.
A European official said the US is “not convinced” about lowering the Russian oil price cap.
Earlier this week, the US Treasury said Secretary Scott Bessent intended to press G7 allies to focus on rebalancing the global economy to protect workers and companies from China’s “unfair practices”.
The communique also recognised an increase in low-value international “de minimis” package shipments that can overwhelm customs and tax collection systems and be used for smuggling drugs and other illicit goods.
Business owners in Syria have praised the European Union’s decision to lift sanctions on Syria this week, which, according to observers, is the most significant ease of Western pressure on Damascus in more than a decade.
Asaad al-Shaibani, the country’s foreign minister, praised the EU’s decision, which came after a similar announcement made by the US in mid-May.
Many Syrian businesspeople are hopeful that their livelihoods will be rebuilt after years of economic isolation.
Businesses that were barred from Syria and stopped dealing with us as a result of the sanctions are now in contact with us, according to Hassan Bandakji, a business owner in the area.
“Many businesses and producers are telling us they’re coming back and want to reserve a spot in our market,” said one producer.
Bashar al-Assad’s government was subject to extensive sanctions from the EU and the US, both of which were broad-ranging and were issued following a rebel offensive in December of last year.
Businesses were severely stymied by the economic restrictions that severely limited trade, investment, and financial transactions in Syria.
Ali Sheikh Kweider, who runs a factory in the countryside of Damascus, said, “The main challenge we faced was getting raw materials and automated lines.”
We were unable to send or receive any transactions, according to Kweider, according to Kweider.
As part of its efforts to rebuild Syria, the new government, led by former rebel leader and interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa, had demanded that the sanctions be lifted.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, said he planned to order the lifting of American sanctions against Syria after a meeting with al-Sharaa last week in Saudi Arabia.
According to Al Jazeera’s Mahmoud Abdelwahed, the government hopes that the sanctions’ relief will aid Syria’s resumption of its international network.
Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel, has frequently attempted to portray himself as a close friend of American President Donald Trump, but the relationship has rarely been as straightforward as the Israeli prime minister has claimed.
And recently, there is growing rumors in the Israeli media that the two leaders’ interactions have begun to unravel.
Trump’s most recent Middle East trip, which included visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, gave rise to some notions of the gap, but not to Israel, the nation that has typically been the US’s closest ally in the area.
In the same vein, negotiations between the US and Iran, one of Israel’s most fervent regional adversaries, and the Houthi rebels in Yemen have been ongoing without any reassurances from Israel, a nation that has always valued itself as a central figure in these matters. In contrast to the growing chorus of international outcry over Israel’s actions in Gaza, US Vice President JD Vance made the decision to cancel a planned visit to Israel for what appear to be “logistical” reasons.
Israeli commentator Dana Fahn Luzon, who appeared on national television earlier this month, succinctly stated, “Trump is telling Netanyahu, Honey, I’ve had enough of you. ’”
On February 4, 2025, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump hold a joint press conference in Washington, DC.
Mitchell Barak, an Israeli pollster and former political aide to a number of senior Israeli figures, told Al Jazeera, “We’re seeing a total breakdown of everything that might be of interest to Israel.” America was once our closest ally; We don’t appear to be sitting at the table right now. Every Israeli ought to be concerned about this. ”
Netanyahu is held responsible for this by many Israelis, Barak continued. It is obvious that Trump didn’t like it when he presented Trump with some sort of pocket. Netanyahu blundered a line. ”
No friend could be any better.
Prominent figures in the US administration are highlighting the strength of their alliance, despite growing concern about a potential rift within Israel.
Steve Witkoff, the special envoy to President Trump, stated last Sunday that while the US was trying to stop what he called a “humanitarian crisis” in Gaza, there was “any daylight between President Trump’s position and Prime Minister Netanyahu’s position.”
On March 14, 2025, protesters in New York City, US, guard the entrance to Columbia University.
White House National Security Council spokesman James Hewitt, who denied reports that the Trump administration was planning to “abandon” Israel if it continues to wage its occupation of Gaza, reaffirming his country’s commitment to Israel.
In addition, the Trump administration has been active in halting criticism of Israel’s occupation of Gaza in public spaces, particularly on US college campuses.
Rumeysa Ozturk, who was detained while promoting an opinion piece she co-authored for a student newspaper, was one of several international students who were detained and deported for their support of Palestine.
On April 3, 2025, protesters gathered outside a federal court to hear from Rumeysa Ozturk’s lawyer, a Turkiye student from Tufts who was being detained by US immigration authorities in Boston, Massachusetts.
Spatting
The Trump administration has firmly positioned itself in Israel’s hands thanks to those policies. And it is not surprising when you consider what Trump did to his own policies during his first term in office.
Trump complied with many of the Israeli right’s demands in that capacity between 2017 and 2021, including the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital despite its eastern half being occupied by Palestinians, acknowledging the annexation of the Golan Heights, acknowledging that Syria is occupied, and stepping down from the Iran nuclear deal.
The Trump-Negalese relationship is reportedly strained by his actions because he is said to be angry with what he perceives as a lack of gratitude for those pro-Israel policies.
Trump also reacted furiously after Netanyahu praised former US President Joe Biden in the wake of his victory over Trump in the 2020 election, which the current president continues to dispute.
Bibi [Benjamin] Netanyahu was the first to congratulate [Biden], for whom I fought more than any other person I dealt with. Bibi might have kept quiet. In a 2021 interview, Trump claimed that he had made a terrible mistake.
However, analysts said that in the run-up to the US election of 2024, Netanyahu and his allies actively sought out Trump because they believed that using him as a means to advance their goals and maintain their occupation of Gaza.
Before the election, Netanyahu had actually campaigned for Trump, highlighting Biden’s negative reputation, according to Associate Fellow at Chatham House, Yossi Mekelberg.
Because Trump is so contractual, they are now unsure of which direction to take him. There is no win in Palestine, Mekelberg continued, referring to the string of victories the president claimed during his most recent Gulf tour.
A protester holds a placard ahead of the US Consulate in Tel Aviv, Israel, on February 3, 2025 [File: Antonio Denti/Reuters/Reuters/Facebook]
A general consensus is emerging in the Israeli press and media that Trump is simply fed up with trying to put an end to the Gaza war that Netanyahu and his allies on the hard right have no desire to pursue.
According to reports, Trump has reportedly halted contact with Netanyahu over concerns that the Israeli prime minister may be trying to manipulate him.
Yanir Cozin, a reporter for Israeli Army Radio, quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying, “There’s nothing Trump hates more than being played as a sucker and someone being played, so he made the decision to cut off contact.” ”
Political analyst Nimrod Flaschenberg said from Tel Aviv that there is a sense in Israel that Trump has a crush on Netanyahu. Supporters of Netanyahu are panicking because they previously believed Trump’s support was unrestrained. ”
Now what?
According to Flaschenberg, a break in Netanyahu and Trump’s relations with Trump might not automatically mean a break in Israel and the US, with all political parties spewing about what the future might hold if the two countries’ political alliances are rebalanced.
According to Mekelberg, the US’s support for Israel has been the foundation of both nations’ foreign policy for decades. Additionally, according to analysts and polls, support for Israel, while declining, is still ingrained in a large portion of Trump’s Republican base, particularly among Republican and Democratic donors.
[File: Jim Watson/AFP] US President Donald Trump has long been a vocal supporter of Israel.
With regard to Israel’s reliance on US support, Flaschenberg said, “Those opposed to Netanyahu and the war are hoping that the US may now apply a lasting ceasefire.” Trump has no reason to believe him, but rather because of how shocked they are by the current administration. ”
However, those on the hard right, such as Israel’s finance minister Bezalel Smotrich and its national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, are also present. Mekelberg speculated that they may also be hoping to profit from any change in direction US policy toward Israel takes.
According to Mekelberg, Smotrich, and their supporters might profit from American disinterest, based on how it develops. Israel’s dream is fulfilled if the US continues to provide them with diplomatic support and weapons at the UN, he said. Smotrich has assured his supporters that allowing minimal aid into the besieged enclave would not mean that Israel would stop “destroying everything that’s left of the Gaza Strip”.
However, it’s uncertain where Netanyahu might play a role.
The Israeli prime minister’s claims that he relyed on the war to maintain the political coalition he needs to stay in office and avoid both a legal judgment in his corruption trial and a political verdict over the failures of his government prior to the bombing of the October 7, 2023 attack are widespread and persistent.
Nawaf Salam, the leader of Lebanese democracy, has called on the international community to repress Israel into adhering to a November ceasefire with the Lebanese organization Hezbollah.
The Israeli military struck a building in Toul, a town in the Nabatieh governorate, according to Lebanon’s official National News Agency (NNA). The army had earlier issued a warning to residents of the area around a building it claimed Hezbollah used.
Israeli bombardment of the southern Lebanese towns of Soujod, Touline, Sawanna, and the Rihan Mountain was also reported by Lebanese media outlets.
The Israeli attacks come just days before Saturday’s municipal elections in Lebanon’s southern districts, according to Salam’s office in a statement.
In light of the ongoing Israeli occupation of some of southern Lebanon, it is anticipated that Hezbollah and its allies will win the contests. Additionally, there are growing concerns about the safety of voters, particularly in border towns.
His office stated in its statement that Prime Minister Salam “stresses that these violations will not thwart the state’s commitment to holding elections and protecting Lebanon and the Lebanese.”
On May 22, people and members of the civil defense gathered near the Israeli attack site in Toul [Ali Hankir/Reuters]
Hezbollah fighters were instructed to retreat from the Litani River and construct military installations south of the Litani River as part of the ceasefire agreement in November.
Israel, for its part, had planned to leave Lebanon altogether, but it has still maintained troops in some areas. It asserts that it must remain there for “strategic” reasons.
A UN Security Council resolution calls for the disarmament of all non-state organizations and states that Lebanese troops and UN peacekeepers should be the only ones who can carry arms in southern Lebanon.
One fighter was killed in Rab el-Thalathine, southern Lebanon, on Thursday, according to the Israeli military, which carried out several strikes that targeted Hezbollah sites.
Hezbollah did not respond to the Israeli army’s assertion right away.
A shepherd was also hurt in a different Israeli attack nearby, according to the NNA.
In the Bekaa Valley in northeast Lebanon, Israeli forces “struck a Hezbollah military site containing rocket launchers and weapons.”
In an effort to rekindle US ties, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa met Donald Trump. However, he allegedly lacked a significant opportunity to refute Trump’s false “white genocide” claims. The mixed response from Johannesburg is reported by Al Jazeera’s @FahmidaMiller.
Jamie Dimon, the CEO of JPMorgan Chase, has warned that he can’t rule out the possibility that the country will experience stagflation, an economic term that describes a period of high inflation and unemployment while economic growth is slow.
In response to a question about some US Federal Reserve officials claiming the US economy was in a sweet spot, Dimon said in an interview with Bloomberg Television on Thursday.
At the Shanghai-based JPMorgan’s Global China Summit, Dimon made his remarks. His remarks come in light of US government policy changes that have caused retailers to declare that they must raise prices and put businesses in a wait-and-see mode due to the country’s growing geopolitical tensions, rising deficits, and consumer price pressure.
According to Al Jazeera, economists like Stuart Mackintosh, the executive director of the financial think tank Group of Thirty, shared Dimon’s concerns.
“We cannot exclude the possibility of stagnation.” We are currently faced with uncertainty regarding tariffs and many other policies that are putting downward pressure on American growth.
The US economy’s credit rating was downgraded by Moody’s Ratings last week. In response to the US’s growing national debt, the company reduced its gold-standard Aaa rating to an Aa1 credit rating.
At the company’s Monday investor day, Dimon’s remarks from Thursday served as further evidence.
According to Dimon, “Credit today is a bad risk.”
Dimon also made comments on US President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill,” which includes significant provisions of the Trump administration’s agenda, such as tax cuts, slashes to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), increased funding for immigration enforcement, and new taxes on colleges and universities.
They should do the tax bill, in my opinion. In a record obtained by the Reuters news agency, Dimon stated that while it will stabilise things temporarily, it will likely increase the deficit.
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the tax bill would increase the nation’s debt by $3.8 trillion.
“Inflation rising,”
Dimon continued, “The US Federal Reserve is doing the right thing to wait and see” before making monetary policy decisions, according to Dimon in the Bloomberg interview. At its most recent policy meeting, the central bank chose to hold rates steady, which was in line with economists’ expectations.
Policymakers at the time weighed a stable labor market even as they acknowledged that it might be in the short run.
This is unsustainable, they say. “We could very well be in a much worse economic situation right away,” Mackintosh said.
As the US Department of Labor and the payroll and human resources firm ADP prepare to release their monthly report on the rate of job growth, more details on the state of the US labor market are anticipated in the coming weeks.
Dimon has long warned against rising inflation and stagflation.
He noted that “I believe there is a little more chance of inflation going up and stagflation” than most people would anticipate.
