The Group of Seven (G7) recently met for two days in Biarritz, France to discuss international events, world trade, environmental issues, and more. The world leaders from Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and the US, held multiple meetings and covered a wide variety of topics. For those curious as to what the main takeaways were, the following provides a brief summary.
Emergency Aid to Fight Amazon Rainforest Fires
During the summit, the G7 countries decided to give Brazil $20 euros to help combat the forest fires destroying the Amazon rainforest. This year, the Amazon has seen their worst outbreak of fires in nearly a decade. The fires have spread from Brazil to Bolivia. France’s President Emmanuel Macron also stated that he will send French military support to help put out the fires. President Macron also plans on discussing another initiative for the Amazon at the next G7 meeting at the U.N. General Assembly in New York.
New Rules of World Trade
World trade was another much-discussed topic at the G7 Summit. Leaders discussed modernizing world trade in order to better protect intellectual property. They believe that it is impossible to solve these problems by working separately. According to President Macron, “Joint work is the new way of doing things.” He believes that President Trump has clearly demonstrated his willingness to reach an agreement with China regarding the future tariff increase, and France supports such an agreement.
GAFA Tax Agreement
France and the US have been butting heads over the GAFA tax, France’s tax that targets Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook. During the summit, however, the nations decided that they want to work together to start resolving their differences while modernizing the international fiscal system. France stated that if the two countries could come to an agreement, they would consider tossing out the tax.
Meeting Between Macron and Zarif
President Macron surprised attendants when he held a meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif. Macron’s goal is to create the conditions for a meeting between Trump and Hassan Rouhani, and is hoping that the meeting will take place within the next few weeks. Iran and the US are at odds right now. Although President Trump believes that Iran has tremendous potential, he pulled the US out of a nuclear accord and reinstated tariffs.