France will invite the leaders of India, Brazil, South Korea and Kenya to this year’s G7 summit in the Alpine resort of Evian-les-Bains, as President Emmanuel Macron seeks to widen support for an ambitious push to address mounting global economic imbalances.
The June 15–17 gathering will bring together the leaders of the Group of Seven major industrialised democracies, but China will not be among the invited guest nations, in a notable diplomatic signal as Paris tries to rally like-minded economies around concerns over trade distortions, global demand weakness and financial instability.
French officials say the summit will be framed around the risk of a broader international economic shock, with Paris hoping to build momentum behind a rebalancing agenda that would call on major powers to adjust longstanding structural weaknesses in the global economy.
At the centre of that effort is France’s view that China needs to rely more on domestic demand and less on export-led growth, while the United States must address persistent deficits and Europe needs to produce more and save less. French officials say those imbalances, if left unaddressed, could heighten the risk of a major financial crisis.
But those long-term ambitions may be overshadowed by more immediate geopolitical and economic pressures.
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The summit is set to take place against the backdrop of the U.S.-Israeli war on Iran, which has already rattled energy markets, disrupted trade flows and revived fears of a broader global inflation shock. French officials have acknowledged that the conflict’s economic and energy consequences are likely to dominate the agenda if tensions remain elevated into June.
“We don’t know where the Iran crisis will be by June,” a French presidential adviser said, according to Reuters, adding that however the conflict evolves, leaders will have to confront its wider fallout.
The absence of China is likely to attract particular attention.
French officials say Beijing continues to question the legitimacy of the G7, often portraying it as an exclusive club of wealthy Western powers. According to Reuters, Paris had explored the possibility of inviting China, but officials ultimately concluded that engagement with Beijing would instead continue through separate diplomatic channels.
That decision reflects both political realities and strategic calculations.
By inviting India, Brazil, South Korea and Kenya, France appears to be aiming for a broader coalition of large democracies and influential market economies that can lend greater legitimacy to discussions on trade, finance, energy and industrial policy.
The inclusion of Kenya is especially notable, as it gives Africa a direct seat in a summit that is expected to deal not only with macroeconomic risks but also with the knock-on effects of war, commodity volatility and supply chain fragmentation on developing economies.
For Paris, the guest list is also part of a wider attempt to defend the relevance of the G7 at a time when the grouping’s influence is increasingly being questioned.
That uncertainty is compounded by the unpredictable role of U.S. President Donald Trump, whose use of tariffs and confrontational trade rhetoric has unsettled both allies and rivals since his return to office. French officials have even publicly acknowledged uncertainty over whether Trump will attend the summit at all.
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If he does attend, he is likely to dominate proceedings, particularly if the Iran war, trade tensions and transatlantic policy divisions remain unresolved.
If he does not, the summit could become an even sharper test of whether other major democracies are prepared to coordinate more closely without Washington setting the tone.
Either way, the Evian summit is shaping up as more than a routine diplomatic gathering.
For France, it is a chance to show that the G7 can still convene a wider circle of influential economies to confront a world increasingly defined by war, trade fractures and financial instability even if some of the biggest players, most notably China, remain outside the room.
