Canada's Trudeau Wants to Be 'Dean' of G-7

However, in the company of heavyweights like Joe Biden and Mario Draghi, Justin Trudeau cuts a marginal figure in spite of efforts to be the new "dean".

With Angela Merkel preparing to exit the international stage, the longest-serving leader of the Group of Seven is Canada's Justin Trudeau. While he is positioning himself as the new elder statesman, no one sees him owning the role in the way the German chancellor did. Joe Biden has decades of experience, even if he's new to the US presidency. France's Emmanuel Macron has aggressively positioned himself as Merkel's heir in Europe (she will step down after an election in September) and Italy's Mario Draghi, with his years running the European Central Bank, is used to being heard wherever he goes. In the company of such heavyweights, the leader of the smallest G-7 economy cuts a marginal figure in spite of efforts to be the new "dean," as he became known among the Canadian delegation at this weekend's summit in Carbis Bay on the southern English coast. Indeed, as leaders walked down the long beach boardwalk on Friday to take their positions for the traditional "family photo," Trudeau trailed behind as Macron made a beeline for Biden. Back in 2017, Macron had gravitated toward the fresh-faced Canadian.