The logo for the G7 summit at the Pomeroy Kananaskis Mountain Lodge stands at the press center in Banff, Canada. Photo: VCG

As the Group of Seven (G7) summit gets underway in Kananaskis region, Canada, trade issues loom large in the discussions, with the EU reiterating its opposition to reckless imposition of tariffs while leaders from Canada and Japan pressed the US to roll back its broad duties before the July 9 exemption deadline to prevent a full-blown tariff war.

The European Commission reiterated its opposition to US tariffs on Monday, when dismissing reports that it was willing to accept across-the-board 10 percent duties on EU goods. "Negotiations are ongoing, and no agreement has been reached at this stage. The EU has from the start objected to unjustified and illegal US tariffs," the Commission said in a statement, according to a Reuters report.

German newspaper Handelsblatt had said earlier on Monday that Brussels negotiators were prepared to accept the flat 10 percent US tariff on most EU imports to avert higher duties on EU cars, drugs and electronics.

The Commission, which negotiates trade deals for the 27-nation EU, responded by saying "reports suggesting that the EU accepts a US tariff of 10 percent across all our exports are speculative and do not reflect the current state of discussions," the Reuters report said.

The next step in EU-US negotiations is a planned meeting between European Trade Commissioner Maros Sefcovic and US Trade Representative Jamieson Greer at this week's G7 meeting in Canada, multiple media outlets reported on Monday.

The US government unveiled steep tariffs of up to 50 percent on most US trading partners in early April, before lowering them to 10 percent for 90 days to allow countries time to negotiate lower levies. With the suspension set to expire in less than a month, allied nations are intensifying efforts to avert a full-scale trade war that could destabilize the global economy.

Canada, the host of this year's G7 summit, has also emphasized that the US should scrap its tariff hikes. [Canadian Prime Minister Mark] Carney's position remains that all of Trump administration's new tariffs on Canadian imports should be lifted as part of a trade deal, Bloomberg reported on Monday, citing Canada's ambassador to the US Kirsten Hillman.

In a surprise move, Carney said on Monday he had agreed with Trump that their two nations should try to wrap up a new economic and security deal within 30 days, Reuters reported on Monday.

However, Carney said last week the countries were in intense negotiations over the tariffs and that Canada was preparing reprisals if those negotiations do not succeed. Canada, the top supplier of steel and aluminum to the US, faces tariffs imposed by the US government on both metals as well as on auto exports.

Canada has already implemented retaliatory 25-percent tariffs on non-CUSMA compliant US-made vehicles, and on the non-Canadian and non-Mexican content of CUSMA compliant US-made vehicles, according to a statement on the official website of the Government of Canada. Vehicle imports from the US totaled $35.6 billion in 2024.

Calls for lifting the US steep tariffs are also coming from another G7 member. Japan's Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba met with Trump on the sidelines of the G7 meeting in Canada on Monday as Tokyo urges Washington to drop import auto tariffs that threaten to slow Japan's economy, another Reuters report said on Monday.

Ishiba wants Trump to end the 25 percent auto tariff he imposed on Japanese cars and a 24 percent reciprocal tariff paused until July 9, per the Reuters report. However, the latest development showed that US and Japan failed to reach an agreement on a trade package on the sidelines of the summit, according to Bloomberg. 

"We will continue to actively coordinate with the US to reach an agreement that is beneficial for both countries, without sacrificing Japan's national interests," Ishiba said after the meeting, according to Bloomberg.

The stances of Canada, the EU, and Japan against US tariff policies fully demonstrate that these policies are unpopular, disrupted the international trade order and have severely harmed the interests of its allies, given the large-scale trade between these three parties and the US, Zhou Mi, a senior research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, told the Global Times on Tuesday.

"With the US-imposed tariff deadline looming, US' allies recognize that unilateral concessions would jeopardize their domestic industries. As a result, they are intensifying negotiations through multilateral forums like the G7, seeking a resolution before the exemption period expires," Zhou said. 

The US' tariff policies, characterized by unilateralism and trade protectionism is bound to disrupt the supply chain relationships between the US and other countries, and have pushed its allies into a "defensive negotiation" mode - striving to prevent an immediate escalation of trade tensions while simultaneously preparing retaliatory measures for a potential prolonged standoff, Zhou added.