Originally scheduled for June 14-16, the next G7 leaders' summit will take place from June 15-17 in Evian, Haute-Savoie.

France will postpone this year's G7 leaders' summit by a few days to avoid a clash with Donald Trump's schedule, a White House official announced Friday. Emmanuel Macron "kindly changed the dates to accommodate Trump's agenda," the same source said. Originally scheduled for June 14-16 in Évian-les-Bains (Haute-Savoie), on the shores of Lake Geneva, the event has been moved forward by one day and will now take place from June 15-17.

The two events cited are the 80th birthday of the American president and the organization of a mixed martial arts (MMA) fight at the White House on June 14. "Because he is the leader of the free world, our partners felt that President Trump's participation in the G7 summit was essential. They kindly changed the dates to accommodate the American president's schedule," stated the senior White House official. "The date of the summit is the result of consultations with all of our G7 partners," commented the Élysée Palace.

MMA Night

"On June 14th of next year, we will have a great UFC fight (the world's leading MMA league) at the White House, right at the White House, on the White House grounds," the US president said on October 6th during a speech in Norfolk, Virginia, for the 250th anniversary of the US Navy.

UFC boss Dana White, a close ally of Donald Trump, had already announced last August that an MMA event would be held at the White House to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States. The originally planned date was July 4th, Independence Day in the United States.

France will assume the G7 presidency in June, while the last time the country hosted the meeting was in 2019 in Biarritz (southwest) on the Basque coast. Previously, it was held in Rambouillet (1975), Versailles (1982), at the Grande Arche de la Défense near Paris (1989), Lyon (1996), Evian in 2003, and Deauville in 2011. The United States, Japan, Canada, France, Italy, Germany, and the United Kingdom make up the "Group of Seven."

"Maintaining unity" within the G7

Last year, Emmanuel Macron promised to work to "maintain the unity" of the G7 and "strengthen" it in 2026, by including "trusted partners who will allow us to have even more influence." "That's what I'm going to try to do, in keeping with the spirit of Biarritz," he said at the G7 summit in Kananaskis, Canada.

The G7 leaders displayed rare unity at the Biarritz summit following the election of Donald Trump, who had adopted a conciliatory stance on all disputes, from trade to Iran. Emmanuel Macron had managed to bring the then Iranian Foreign Minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to the summit at a time when Iran was already at the center of international attention due to its nuclear program and expansionist aims.

In the aftermath, Donald Trump had mentioned the possibility of a meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, a prospect which ultimately never materialized despite the efforts of the French President a few weeks later at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.