After months of major domestic political priorities, this past week marked the first major international trip of the Biden administration. The president first traveled to England as part of a major annual summit involving the “Group of Seven” (G7). This informal international group consists of seven of the world’s most powerful and influential democratic nations. Its members include Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Typically, these meetings are designed to help these allied nations coordinate action on shared goals and state a position on critical issues. But for the past few years, these meetings were met with significant disruptions (first from former president Trump’s combative stance towards the alliance and then from COVID-19). However, this latest summit signaled something of a welcome return to normalcy. So what all went down and what does it all mean for you? This week, we’ll explain some of the key takeaways from the 2021 G7 Summit.
Global Health
As with everything in 2021, the largest focus of the G7 Summit was on combating the continued impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Though some of the G7 nations are beginning to see some relief from the virus as vaccination rates grow, others are still in the middle of major lockdowns. In addition, the vast majority of the rest of the world continues to suffer and remain vulnerable (which increases the chances of a vaccine-resistant variant developing). In response to this, the G7 nations committed to providing two billion vaccine doses through the global vaccination program known as COVAX. These will be primarily targeted at lower income countries who do not have the means to manufacture their own vaccine. This is critical to suppressing the virus since many nations throughout places like Africa aren’t expected to begin widespread vaccination campaigns until at least 2022!
But the G7 is also looking beyond the current pandemic and beginning to plan to stop the next one. These measures include a tougher stance on the World Health Organization to continue reporting on COVID-19 outbreaks and investigate the origins of the virus. They also committed to the 100 Days Mission for future potential pandemics. This mission is designed to expedite the process of developing tests, supportive treatments and vaccines for a new potential pandemic virus within only 100 of one being identified. The breakthrough success of mRNA vaccines in combating the current pandemic can theoretically be applied to nearly any virus, so the potential is high that such an aggressive benchmark is possible.
The Global Economy
Nearly every discussion about the global pandemic has involved concerns about the global economy as well. The G7 Summit was no exception. The G7 nations made significant promises for trillions of dollars worth of investments in stabilizing the global economy to prevent it from growing either too quickly or too slowly. They also acknowledged that economic inequality has exploded in the last several decades, a phenomenon that has only worsened with the pandemic. To address this, the G7 issued an extraordinary commitment to support a global minimum tax rate of 15% on all corporations. This is designed to combat the tax-dodging scenarios that many companies have exploited (such as relocating their official headquarters to Ireland or Singapore). Basically, this idea would align many of the major world economies toward enforcing a minimum corporate tax on companies that operate within their borders. The profits from those tax increases would then go towards public services to help reduce global income inequality.
Climate Change
Looking beyond the pandemic, the G7 leaders devoted significant resources to aligning their polices towards combating the effects of Climate Change. In particular, each nation affirmed a promise to reduce their net greenhouse gas emissions to zero by the year 2050. This is in line with the Biden administration’s stated policy of returning to the Paris Climate Agreement. But all of this is impossible without significant investments in clean energy and sustainable agriculture practices. In order to make these aggressive goals more realistic, the G7 nations have promised to provide billions of dollars in domestic investments in sustainable transportation, power generation, and agriculture biodiversity. All of this is intended to create market incentives in favor of renewable energy sources and sustainable practices (which is a reversal of current efforts to subsidize petroleum companies).
Competition With China
If you’ve been keeping up on foreign policy news or listening to government officials recently, you’ll notice that everyone is talking about one thing: China. In particular, the rise of China as a global competitor that could potentially rewrite the rules of international trade and diplomacy. We’ve discussed this topic in detail before, so it should be no surprise that the G7 nations have developed a plan for coordinated action to counter growing Chinese influence. In particular, the G7 issued a strong condemnation of the terrible treatment of China’s Uighur Muslim population in Xinjiang province (such treatment includes internment camps and forced sterilization of women). These condemnations of Chinese behavior also included harsh warnings against any military actions with Taiwan or additional Chinese expansion into contested waters.
But the conflict with China isn’t only about military matters or human rights. China is engaged in a significant campaign to manipulate the global marketplace and undercut American investments in developing nations all over the world. As part of this plan, the G7 is leading the charge to reform the World Trade Organization (whose outdated rules have been exploited by China). In addition, the plan calls for billions of dollars in international development efforts throughout Africa. As we’ve written before, Africa is one of the largest emerging markets in the world with trillions of dollars in market potential for American companies. By investing now, the United States and its allies can lay the groundwork for major partnerships to boost American economic competitiveness. This approach stands in stark contrast to China’s “debt-trap diplomacy” which encourages developing nations to take predatory loans from China in exchange for building critical infrastructure.
Africa’s population is set to dramatically take off by 2100.
The Bottom Line
There are a lot of major issues affecting the world today. Fortunately, the United States and its key allies in the G7 are very closely aligned for the first time in several years. From global health and the economy to climate change and competition with China, the world’s major democracies have a coordinated plan to address these concerns. Overall, the G7 summit helps underscore the power of American influence and leadership. With Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the United Kingdom alongside America, these important actions will be much more successful at furthering America’s interests abroad.