Yes, that is what I said. He left someone behind as a representative of the government of the USA, a country that is still a member of G7 and therefore participating in the summit. That someone will not be in the clear about what his or her instructions precisely are, and will err on the side of caution bootlicking. You think he did not? The idea did not even cross my mind, that would be stupid.
Oh, wait…
The summit is in Kananaskis, which is about 50 kilometres away from Banff. The summit is expected to attract approximately:
5,000 participants in total 70 official guests (VIPs) 2,000 delegates 1,400 journalists 400 summit staff 10,000 hotel rooms used
So yes: there are lots of flunkies there. Personally I find it very strange there are 1400 journalists there: I don’t think this event is a big deal. If I were a media editor I would simply use wire service coverage.
I don’t see any concrete actionable decisions, but it could well be another step towards more “coalitions of the willing” amounting to “actually existing international order without the US”. For the time being, at least (but it took a cataclysm for the free world to get over the US isolationism of the early 20s, so who knows how long it will take to restore trust).
Nothing against Carney, but Taco’s word to resolve his tariff war in 30 days is as good as diarrhea in a spacesuit.