The G20 finance ministers' summit in Asheville, North Carolina, was overshadowed by a row over the traditional "family photo" after European finance ministers threatened to boycott it unless Russia's delegation was excluded, given Moscow has been shut out of G20 events since its 2022 invasion of Ukraine. US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had invited Russian finance minister Anton Siluanov, prompting the Europeans to say they would send deputies instead unless he was withdrawn; the photo ultimately went ahead without the Russian delegation, a move German Finance Minister Lars Klingbeil credited to a "joint approach" among European nations.

The dispute was one of several tensions at the summit, alongside a $40 billion tariff row with Canada, whose prime minister Mark Carney accused the US of not negotiating seriously, and lingering European anger over a US-Japan currency intervention the previous month. Bessent dismissed Canada's complaints, noting the US economy is "13 times larger," and used the summit to tout America's AI-driven growth, urging other nations to follow Washington's lead as the IMF forecasts US growth outpacing the eurozone and Canada this year, even as officials in Germany and elsewhere warned Trump's tariffs and Iran strikes were dragging on global growth.