BIARRITZ, FRANCE: France has done much to Trump-proof the G7 summit, underway in this picturesque town poetically described by locals as a “pearl” in Basque country in southwestern France. Will it work? Or will US President Donald Trump tweet out more disruption in what used to be a virtually unassailable western alliance?French President Emmanuel Macron announced that there will be no joint communique to remove one point of friction between the leaders. The discussions will talk about Amazon fires, African development, particularly in the Sahel, global free trade, environment and climate change, the digital economy, inequality, etc. The way they are structured, they are intended to skirt the difficult areas of global trade, China, Russia and other hard issues.On Sunday evening, Iranian foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was the unexpected visitor in this city, as G7 leaders hoped to find a modus vivendi between the US and Iran that would prevent Iran from going nuclear.Trump, asked about the Iranian “drop-in” unusually, said a “no comment”, a signal that he was not taking to Twitter to denounce the move just yet.India would be watching two moving parts in this summit carefully — a deal with Iran would be welcomed in New Delhi. Similarly, India would be happy if the G7 can find a way to include Russia, as Trump has promised to do, in the teeth of EU resistance.India is here as a special invitee by Macron, who really wants India by his side on both the environment and climate change discussions as well as on the 21st century conversation on digital transformations. Along with PM Narendra Modi are three other leaders — Cyril Ramaphosa from South Africa, Scott Morrison from Australia and Sebastian Pinera from Chile. Macron has changed the format of the G7 this year to get all the four leaders to reaffirm democratic values and fundamental freedoms. Modi is certain to be questioned on Kashmir and its lockdown, and he is expected to produce a strong defence.But friction there is. European Council president Donald Tusk said he would oppose Trump’s call to impose tariff restrictions on French wine because France was threatening taxes on American software companies. Meanwhile, UK PM Boris Johnson , also touting international free trade, is preparing to battle the EU on Brexit , demanding a better deal, which he may not get. Tusk is prepared to stare him down, demanding to know whether Johnson wants to risk going down as a “no deal” PM. Trump has promised to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the next G7 summit in the US. Tusk says he would rather invite Ukraine.The US wants to put the China trade war on the table, after he invoked a 1977 law to order US companies to get out of China. This is deeply disquieting to the Europeans, particularly with a global economic slowdown a reality. Even the US-leaning Johnson put out a weakly worded defence of free, non-tariff trade.But also, while they worry about the nature of Chinese power and its mercantilist moves into Europe, EU countries are yet to mark their convergences on this issue. For instance, Chinese investments into Germany have crashed but its economic presence in central and Eastern Europe has increased substantially.Brexit will be a big point of discussion. Tusk said he was “willing to listen to ideas that are operational, realistic and acceptable to all EU member-states, including Ireland, if and when the UK government is ready to put them forward”. He added, “The one thing I will not cooperate on is no deal, and I still hope that PM Johnson will not like to go down in history as ‘Mr No Deal’.”Johnson fought back and said, “I don’t want a no-deal Brexit, but I say to our friends in the EU, if they don’t want a no-deal Brexit, then we’ve got to get rid of the backstop from the treaty.”With the exception of Japanese PM Shinzo Abe, almost all the G7 leaders are facing political headwinds at home. Trump is heading into an election with a 40% approval rating, and a slowing US economy, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau is in deep trouble on ethics grounds, Italian PM Giuseppe Conte has had to resign, German Chancellor Angela Merkel has eroding political support and failing health, while Macron is not doing too well either. Johnson is new but if Brexit becomes messy as it might, that will weaken him more than ever.Indian participation will be largely to support Macron on the climate and digital transformation areas. Modi will be making remarks at the sessions on climate change and digital economy on Monday morning.India is a signatory to the France-supported Christchurch Call for Action and is one of the biggest supporters of the Paris Accord after France. The France-India created International Solar Alliance (ISA) headquartered in India is slowly gaining traction, though it needs a big infusion of technology. The G7 in many ways has been overtaken by the G20, which includes many more of the world’s top economies that make up the global high table.