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The G7 want to open a new coordination platform for economic coercion
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The Prime Minister will warn of growing threats to our economic security from hostile state actors
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G7 leaders are expected to discuss supply chain resilience and tools to prevent key technologies from falling into the wrong hands
The Prime Minister will set out the UK’s plan to expand the tools we can use to combat global threats to security and prosperity and to counter growing economic coercion as he opens a session at the G7 summit today [Saturday 20th May] for economic security.
Speaking to G7 leaders, Rishi Sunak will highlight the huge potential cost of hostile activity to the global economy – citing, for example, the impact of Russia’s stranglehold on European gas supplies last year – and call for bold and pragmatic collective action.
He will call on the G7 and other international partners to coordinate our responses to unfair and forced trade practices to avoid a costly zero-sum game that could hurt collective prospects for growth and technological innovation.
Leaders are expected to agree on the creation of a new G7 co-ordination platform on economic coercion. The platform will address the increasing and harmful use of economic coercion to interfere in the sovereign affairs of other states. China, for example, has recently used its economic power to coerce countries like Australia and Lithuania over political disputes.
The new G7 Coordination Platform will provide a forum to identify vulnerabilities and coordinate protective measures, drawing on insights from policymakers, business and academia. It will also act as the main forum for the G7 to coordinate rapid responses to economic duress when it arises, to ensure we give each other early warning of potential crises and take joint action when necessary.
The Prime Minister will set out the critical importance of precise, targeted and – where possible – coordinated approaches to protecting the use of our cutting-edge technologies for authoritarian purposes while retaining all the benefits of efficient, innovative free markets and open trade.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said:
We should be aware of the growing challenge we face. China is engaged in concerted and strategic economic competition. And when Russia weaponized Europe’s energy supply, it was a sign of what can happen when we rely too heavily on states that don’t share our values.
Our collective economic security is now more important than ever. By working together and avoiding the competition between friends, we can increase our prosperity, innovate faster, and outperform autocratic states.
The UK has already taken a number of steps to further strengthen our domestic economic security, including the creation of the new National Protective Security Authority within MI5 earlier this year to provide expert advice to businesses, academics and other professionals. These supplement existing export control and investment screening powers under the National Security and Investment Act.
As the Government outlined in the Integrated Review update, we are stronger when we work with allies and partners to defend global rules, strengthen our economic resilience, and protect ourselves from exploitation of our economic and technological advantages.
G7 leaders are also expected to step up their collective efforts to strengthen the resilience of supply chains for essential commodities such as semiconductors and critical minerals.
This comes after Britain agreed a new semiconductor partnership with Japan on Thursday [18th] and published the UK’s National Semiconductor Strategy yesterday [19th]It sets out how government investment of up to £1 billion will bolster the UK’s strengths and capabilities in design, R&D and compound semiconductors, while helping to grow domestic chip companies across the UK.
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