G-7 leaders agree on vaccines, China and taxing corporations

Carbis Bay (England): Leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations on Sunday pledged more than 1 billion Coronavirus vaccine doses to poorer nations, vowed to help developing countries grow their economies while fighting climate change and agreed to challenge China's non-market economic practices and call out Beijing for rights abuses in Xinjiang and Hong Kong.

Speaking at the end of a G-7 leaders' summit in southwest England, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson praised the fantastic degree of harmony among the reenergised group, which met in person for the first time in two years.

The leaders wanted to show that international cooperation is back after the upheavals caused by the pandemic and the unpredictability of former U.S. President Donald Trump. And they wanted to convey that the club of wealthy democracies Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States is a better friend to poorer nations than authoritarian rivals such as China.

Johnson said the G-7 would demonstrate the value of democracy and human rights to the rest of the world and help the world's poorest countries to develop themselves in a way that is clean and green and sustainable. Despite Johnson's call to "vaccinate the world" by the end of 2022 the promise of 1 billion doses for vaccine-hungry countries coming both directly and through the international COVAX program falls far short of the 11 billion doses, the World Health Organization said is needed to vaccinate at least 70% of the world's population and truly end the pandemic.

The G-7 also backed a minimum tax of at least 15% on large multinational companies to stop corporations from using tax havens to avoid taxes.

Biden also wanted to persuade fellow democratic leaders to present a more unified front to compete economically with Beijing and strongly call out China's nonmarket policies and human rights abuses.