G7 leaders need to lift their game
- Date: 10-Jun-2021
- Source: Financial Times
- Sector:Economy
- Country:Middle East
G7 leaders need to lift their game
When G7 leaders gather for their seaside summitin Cornwall this weekend, their most powerful member, US President Joe Biden, will have two messages for them. The turbulence of the Trump years is over, and the western democracies that shaped so much of the last century can deliver what the world needs today far better than autocrats in China and Russia.
The first goal is the easier one; Biden is clearly no Donald Trump. To have any hope of proving the enduring worth of democracies, however, the president and his G7 counterparts must do far more than what they have managed in the run-up to the meeting. The corporate tax dealtheir finance ministers secured a week ago was a good start. It should ensure multinational companies pay a fairer share of taxes.
The leaders' summit must build on this, first by closing the dismal Covid-19 vaccine gap that has opened up between rich and poor countries. Nearly 45 per cent of people have had at least one jab in the wealthy club of G7 nations “” the US, UK, Germany, France, Italy, Japan and Canada “” compared with just over 2 per cent in the 44 African countries for which there is complete data.
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