South Asian News Network

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is attending the Group of Seven talks in Charlevoix, Quebec, to press the industrial democracies to support Trump’s approach of pushing Moscow and Kyiv to make concessions. Rubio is taking an unusually circuitous route, departing early Wednesday from Saudi port city Jeddah, where he met top Ukrainian officials to discuss an initial ceasefire plan. In most US administrations, visits to Canada attract little attention, with friendly neighbours focusing on reaffirming their longstanding ties. However, since returning to power, Trump has taken a sledgehammer to Canada, mocking it by saying it should become the “51st state” of the United States and hitting it with tariffs. Rubio acknowledged that he would likely discuss trade tensions when he meets Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly but said the two countries still had “common interests”, including in the G7.