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President Biden announced Sunday that “America is back to the negotiating table” after leaving the first G7 summit, as world leaders pledged to confront China, bolster global infrastructure and donate one billion doses of vaccine to the rest of the world.
“I told each of my G7 counterparts that the United States will do our part. America is back on the table,” the president said at a press conference at the conclusion of the meeting with US allies. “The lack of involvement in the past and full participation was noted not only by the leaders of those countries but by the people of the G7 countries.”
Biden described the meeting, his first with the group since taking office, as “exceptionally productive and collaborative,” and said that ending the coronavirus pandemic and ensuring a “fair and comprehensive” global economic recovery were a top priority for the United States and its nations. allies.
President Biden participates in a press conference on the final day of the G-7 summit at Cornwall Airport in Newquay on June 13, 2021. BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images
In a 25-page statement issued on the last day of the three-day meeting, leaders of the G7 nations — the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — pledged to crack down on the use. Forced labor, anti-ransomware, and anti-corruption, with China and Russia claiming human rights abuses.
“We know that corruption undermines trust in government, takes away public resources, makes economies less competitive and poses a threat to our security,” the president said.
Biden left the summit on Sunday morning and plans to meet Queen Elizabeth at Windsor Castle on Sunday before heading to Brussels for meetings with NATO and European Union leaders. He will conclude his first visit abroad with a summit with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Geneva on Wednesday.
The president told reporters that he agreed with Putin that relations between the United States and Russia had reached a “low point,” but acknowledged there were areas where the two countries could work together.
Biden speaks at the conclusion of the G7 summit 30:07
“Russia has engaged in activities that we believe go against international norms, but it has also gotten rid of some real problems that they will have a hard time chewing,” Biden said.
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On the issue of forced labor, the statement said that the United States and the G7 countries “will continue to work together including through the domestic means at our disposal and multilateral institutions to protect individuals from forced labor and to ensure global supply chains are free from forced labour.” the use of forced labor.” The group also said it would “reinforce our values, including by calling on China to respect human rights and fundamental freedoms, particularly with regard to Xinjiang” and Hong Kong.
“I think we’re in competition, not with China per se, but with autocrats and authoritarian governments around the world over whether democracies can compete with them in the rapidly changing 21st century,” Biden said. “And I think the way we act and whether we unite as democracies will determine whether our grandchildren look back 15 years from now and say, ‘Have they progressed?'” Are democracies as relevant and powerful as they were? “
The G7 countries backed a global minimum tax of 15% on multinational corporations on a “country-by-country basis” to create a “fairer tax system fit for the twenty-first century, reversing a 40-year trajectory to the bottom.”
The seven countries, the world’s richest liberal democracies, have also pledged to send one billion doses of the COVID-19 vaccine worldwide. Half of those will come from the United States, Mr. Biden said.
“The fact is that we, the contribution of the United States, are the basis for working out how we deal with 100 poor countries that are having trouble finding vaccines and have trouble dealing with reviving their economies,” the president said.
It also called on G7 allies to consider a “timely, transparent, expert-led, science-based” phase two study convened by the World Health Organization to examine the origins of COVID-19, including in China.
The president said it was critical for the world to know whether the epidemic was the result of human contact with infected animals or the result of a leak from a laboratory in Wuhan, China.
“Lack of transparency could lead to another pandemic,” he said. “We have access. The world must have access.”
And after Sunday’s press conference, Biden will have tea with Queen Elizabeth before heading to Brussels. On Friday, Mr Biden and First Lady Jill Biden took part in a reception with other leaders and their spouses as well as members of the British royal family.
Bo Erickson and Finn Gomez contributed to this report.
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