G7 rejects use of “economic coercion” for political goals, alluding to China
The G7 on Saturday rejected the use “as a weapon” of export strengths and the instrumentalization of the “economic coercion” as a political tool, in a statement with China’s dominance in mind.
“We will work together to ensure that attempts to weaponize economic dependencies by forcing G7 members and our partners, including small economies, to comply and adapt, fail and face consequences“, the powers said in a statement.
The G7 members were concerned about “the disturbing rise in incidents of economic coercion which seek to exploit vulnerabilities and dependencies“, and called on all countries to refrain from such practices, in an allusion to China, according to U.S. government sources.
The Group of Seven (Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and the United States) and the European Union (EU) committed to address the policies and practices “designed to reinforce dependencies” and to counteract them, because they “undermine the functioning of and confidence in the multilateral trading system.”
In this regard, the leaders of these powers promised to review existing measures at the national level, their effectiveness, and to develop new ones to effectively address the problem.
At the international level, the G7 announced the creation together with the World Trade Organization (WTO) of the “Coordination Platform on Economic Coercion,” an initiative that seeks to increase cooperation in the analysis and solution of economic coercion.
The communiqué is restrained and does not expressly mention any country, but the United States has confirmed that the partners will be engaged in this debate with Beijing in mind.
Supply chains
G7 powers reiterated their desire to dive into negotiations to create supply chains. “more resilient”, in the face of the high dependence on certain powers for the supply of certain components, especially China, a problem that became evident during the logistical problems experienced during the pandemic.
Problems in supply chains were “devastating.” for emerging powers, which the G7 called on to build their own strengths in this regard and contribute to greater diversification of supply chains.
Other issues to which the G7 showed concern included regulations that would “unjustifiably require” companies to provide location information or those that allow governments to access data “without adequate safeguards and protections.”
The bloc showed its desire to seek countermeasures. to “malicious” practices in the digital sphere and protect commercial and private activities from espionage and leaks.
