Allies preserve unity even as Trump's tariffs and Canada taunts overshadow G7 meeting

LA MALBAIE, Quebec (AP) — Top diplomats from the Group of 7 industrialized democracies agreed Friday on a joint statement expressing support for Ukraine and a U.S. ceasefire proposal in the three-year-old war even as President Donald Trump’s trade policies and taunts toward host Canada overshadowed the talks.

Despite the tensions, diplomats from the U.S., Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan signed off on a final communique after hours of late-night negotiations. There were concerns that the bloc’s once solid unity had been thrown into irreversible disarray by Trump's whopping tariffs on steel and aluminum and threats for additional levies if there is any retaliation.

Although the trade war and Trump’s repeated comments about turning Canada into the 51st state distracted from the discussions, diplomats were able to rally around his Ukraine peace plan.

“G7 members reaffirmed their unwavering support for Ukraine in defending its territorial integrity and right to exist, and its freedom, sovereignty and independence," the communique said. “G7 members called for Russia to reciprocate by agreeing to a ceasefire on equal terms and implementing it fully.”

U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio denied after the meeting that the G7 support for Ukraine's territorial sovereignty strayed from the Trump administration's position, including its insistence that Ukraine must be open to ceding control of some land to Russia to get a peace deal.

“I’ve never heard President Trump say that Russia has a right to take all of Ukraine and do whatever they want there," Rubio told reporters. "So that’s not inconsistent.”

The G7 diplomats discussed, but did not detail, imposing further sanctions on Russia — including the possibility of selling seized Russian assets to fund Ukraine's defense — should Russia not accept and respect a ceasefire and providing additional support for Ukraine in that event.

In a significant change from the past, the G7 statement did not contain a specific condemnation of Russia for invading Ukraine. Rubio had said prior to the meetings that the U.S. did not see the value in antagonizing Russian President Vladimir Putin while he was considering Trump’s ceasefire proposal.

Putin said Thursday he agrees with the plan in principle, but set out a host of details that need to be clarified before it is accepted.

The G7 statement “emphasized that any ceasefire must be respected and underscored the need for robust and credible security arrangements to ensure that Ukraine can deter and defend against any renewed acts of aggression.”

Still, Trump’s apparent desire to draw Putin back into the fold — including saying he would like to see Russia rejoin the group to restore it to the G8 — continues to alarm G7 members. Russia was thrown out of the G8 after it seized Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.

Despite the agreement on key points, Trump's policies were front and center as the allies gathered for two days of talks at a snowy resort in La Malbaie, Quebec.

All G7 members are affected by the tariffs but perhaps none more so than Canada, the only one that borders the United States and the only one that Trump has personally antagonized with repeated derogatory comments about it becoming the 51st state.

Rubio, on his first official trip to Canada and his first to a G7 event, heard a litany of complaints as he met with his counterparts.

Many of them, notably the Japanese, appealed to Rubio to use what influence he might have with Trump to spare their country from harsh trade treatment. But Trump has said he will not relent.

"We will put maximum pressure on the Americans and, meanwhile, will work on looking for off-ramps," Canadian Foreign Minister Mélanie Joly told reporters Friday. “The Trump tariffs are going to hurt Americans. That’s our message, that’s our approach."

Rubio, who called Joly a friend, said the tariffs are not meant to be a “hostile move” against allies but are about making trade fair. Those benefiting from previous arrangements likely do “feel it is hostile to change the status quo because it’s to your benefit," he told reporters.

Joly said her discussion with Rubio had been “frank” — diplomatic code for “blunt.”

“I wanted to be able to have a frank conversation," Joly said. "Of course, Canada’s sovereignty is not up for debate and we had a long conversation on tariffs and trade.”

After Trump reiterated in the Oval Office on Thursday that "Canada only works as a state,” Joly stood firm.

“What I said to the secretary is that Canada’s sovereignty is not up for debate. Period," she said Friday. “There is no argument. There is no conversation about it.” She added, as if addressing him, "You are here, you respect us, you respect our sovereignty, you respect our people. Period.”

Rubio told reporters Friday that Trump “loves Canada” and has simply “made an argument for why Canada would be better off joining the United States from an economic perspective and the like. He’s made that argument repeatedly, and I think it stands for itself.”

Joly noted that many of the allies thought Trump's comments were a joke.

“I said to them this is not a joke — Canadians are anxious, Canadians are proud people, and you are here in a sovereign country, and so therefore, we don’t expect this to be even discussed, clearly not laughed at,” she said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said G7 nations should avoid panic and posted a message of support for Canada on X, featuring a photo of her and EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas. “We’ve got your back, @melaniejoly,” she wrote. “#Canada #Solidarity."

Friday’s sessions were shortened due to Joly’s need to depart earlier than planned to attend Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney’s swearing-in ceremony and first Cabinet meeting.

The final communique presented common positions not only on Ukraine but on the Middle East, wars in Africa and Chinese activity in the South China Sea.

On the Middle East, the communique did not, as it has in previous years, express support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. But it did recognize the need for the Palestinians to have a “political horizon” to reach their aspirations.

“All of that has united us,” British Foreign Secretary David Lammy said. “So this has been a unified conference in which we have found common ground. And I’m pleased at the effort and the sense of warmth that exists across the partners in the G7.”

Associated Press writers Rob Gillies in Toronto and Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington contributed to this report.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks with reporters following the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Quebec, Canada, on Friday, March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

From left, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, British Foreign Minister David Lammy, French Foreign Minister Jean-No'l Barrot, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani pose for a photo during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly awaits the arrival of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

From left, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya, British Foreign Minister David Lammy, French Foreign Minister Jean-No'l Barrot, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani pose for a photo during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot attends the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi attends the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, left, speaks alongside US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly awaits the arrival of US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for a bilateral meeting on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

British Foreign Secretary David Lammy speaks during an interview on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly, left, and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio pose for photos on the sidelines of the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly (C) speaks alongside, from left, European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, British Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Japanese Foreign Minister Iwaya Takeshi, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, at the G7 foreign ministers meeting in La Malbaie, Canada, Friday March 14, 2025. (Saul Loeb, Pool Photo via AP)

ATLANTA (AP) — Earlier this year, Michael Woolfolk attended a legislative committee in Georgia where lawmakers considered for a third year whether to compensate the 45-year-old for the 19 years he spent behind bars for a 2002 killing before charges against him were dismissed.

Behind him sat Daryl Lee Clark, also 45, who spent 25 years in prison for a 1998 murder conviction that was vacated over a series of legal and police errors. It was his second attempt to obtain compensation.

Georgia is one of 12 states with no law compensating people found to have been wrongfully convicted. Individuals seeking compensation take their cases to the legislature, where they seek a lawmaker to sponsor a resolution to pay them. Critics say it mires the process in politics.

Lawmakers have been considering legislation to move the decision to judges, but now it's unclear if that will pass this year.

“We need to take care simply of people who have lost so many years of their lives and their ability to make money, have a job, have a family, create stability,” Republican Rep. Katie Dempsey, a sponsor of the Georgia bill, told The Associated Press. “Many are at the age where they would be looking at their savings, and instead, there’s none.”

Missouri lawmakers have sent the governor a bill updating the state's compensation law, and legislatures in Florida and Oregon also are considering updates of their laws. Montana is considering an update of its expired program and Pennsylvania is among those, like Georgia, looking to create one.

Of the 1,739 people who have filed wrongful compensation claims under state laws since 1989, 1,328 received compensation, according to data from George Washington University law professor Jeffrey Gutman.

That doesn't include cases in states like Georgia, which has no law outlining a process.

Since 1995, 12 Georgians have received compensation and at least 11 more have sought it, according to the Georgia Innocence Project. Even some people with strong cases were turned down because they failed to convince lawmakers they were innocent, advocates say.

The latest version of Georgia's proposal would require individuals to prove their innocence to an administrative law judge. They could receive $75,000 for each year of incarceration and reimbursement for other costs such as fines and fees. There would be an additional $25,000 for each year of incarceration awaiting a death sentence.

“The way that the state has treated these individuals by taking away their freedom and liberty and effectively ruining their lives, by wrongfully convicting them and then failing to expeditiously compensate them and help them get back on their feet, doesn’t sit well with me,” said Democratic Rep. Scott Holcomb, a bill sponsor and former prosecutor.

Whether a person was released based on a finding they were not guilty or based on trial or law enforcement error is often a sticking point. Advocates say those wrongfully convicted deserve compensation either way because they are innocent until proven guilty, but some lawmakers are hesitant to pay them.

Senate Majority Whip Randy Robertson, a former sheriff’s deputy, was the lead opponent last year of individual requests for compensation and an effort to pass a compensation law. He takes issue with the term “exonerated,” which he says is too often used in cases where convictions are overturned based on trial errors.

Robertson this year introduced a different compensation bill with stricter rules that didn't get a hearing.

Florida is the only state that prevents exonerees with previous felony convictions from qualifying for compensation, according to an analysis by the advocacy group The Innocence Project.

Florida Republican state Sen. Jennifer Bradley wants to change that. For the third year she is sponsoring a bill to end the rule, arguing that an unrelated charge should not prevent people who were wronged by the state from being compensated for their “lost liberty.”

A bill in the Oregon Legislature would update a law passed in 2022 that provides exonerees $65,000 for each year they were wrongfully imprisoned, on the condition they file a successful petition proving their innocence. The new bill comes amid criticism that few exonerees have received compensation since the law took effect.

Missouri's legislature recently passed and sent to the governor a measure expanding a restitution program for people wrongly convicted of felonies. The legislation would raise compensation from $100 to $179 per day of imprisonment and remove a requirement that innocence is proven by DNA analysis.

Many Georgia lawmakers have said they don’t want to play judge and hope the state process changes.

If the legislature doesn’t pass a bill before adjourning April 4, Woolfolk and Clark may not be compensated this year. The House overwhelmingly approved five requests that could fail in the Senate.

Starting a career at 45 is hard, Woolfolk said, and he missed his children’s upbringing. He said he is sick of trying to convince lawmakers to help him.

Clark, who does not have children, got a standing ovation from House lawmakers last year who voted to compensate him.

This year, his “hope and prayers" are that he also gains some help.

Associated Press reporters Kate Payne in Tallahassee, Florida, Claire Rush in Portland, Oregon, and David A. Lieb in Jefferson City, Missouri, contributed to this report.

Kramon and Payne are corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

*Michael Woolfolk poses for a photo at the state capitol, Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)

Michael Woolfolk poses for a photo at the state capitol, Thursday, March 6, 2025, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart)