View from the summit: what did the G7 achieve?
Economist Podcasts
The Economist
4.3 • 5K Ratings
🗓️ 17 June 2026
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Geopolitics has dominated this year’s G7 political meeting in Evian, France. Donald Trump offered scant detail on the Iran peace deal but leaders promised to boost support for Ukraine. Though prostitution in Japan has a long history, recent scandals have drawn it into the spotlight. And Britain’s Country Life magazine has a winning formula: ignore the news.
Guests and host:
- Sophie Pedder, Paris bureau chief
- Moeka Iida, East Asia reporter
- Catherine Nixey, Britain correspondent
- Rosie Blau, host of “The Intelligence”
Topics covered:
- G7, Donald Trump, Iran, Ukraine
- Prostitution, Japan, sex work
- Country Life, publishing, Britain
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The Economist |
| 0:02.0 | Hello and welcome to the intelligence from The Economist. |
| 0:13.0 | I'm Rosie Bloor. |
| 0:19.0 | Today on the show, sex work in Japan, and the surprising success of British magazine Country Life. |
| 0:31.3 | But first... |
| 0:51.3 | ...but first... On the banks of Lake Geneva, in a town famous for its bottled water, the G7 political summit has been taking place in Evian. Everything has been shut down to make space for this annual meeting, where leaders |
| 0:55.6 | of some of the world's wealthiest democracies come together. This year's tranquil setting, |
| 1:00.8 | the sunlit gardens of the Hotel Royale, is somewhat at odds with the rather more stormy global |
| 1:06.1 | climate. And it's a tough crowd. Last year, when the meeting took place in Canada, Donald Trump left a day early. |
| 1:14.2 | President Trump is coming back tonight from the G7 summit in Canada, citing the conflict |
| 1:18.3 | in the Middle East as the reason. |
| 1:20.9 | This time, French President Emmanuel Macron is hosting. |
| 1:24.3 | Hello, how are you? |
| 1:25.4 | Hello. |
| 1:26.7 | Welcome to us. |
| 1:29.0 | The need for frank discussion and partnership has rarely seemed more pressing. |
| 1:34.3 | The question is whether the G7 is merely a talking shop, or whether getting leaders together |
| 1:39.3 | could actually be precisely what everyone needed to do. |
| 1:43.6 | It's a G7 that's been very much dominated by crises, geopolitical crises, the war in the Middle East, Ukraine. |
| 1:50.9 | Sophie Pedder is our Paris bureau chief. |
| 1:53.9 | But it's also about Donald Trump. |
| 1:56.6 | He's dominated all conversations as almost every time he's been at a G7. |
... |
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