G7 to Discuss Global Trade Risks After US Tariffs on China

• The Group of Seven (G7) major democracies meeting in Italy next week will discuss the risk of fragmentation in global trade after "very tough" tariffs imposed by the United States against China, Italian Economy Minister Giancarlo Giorgetti said.
• S. President Joe Biden unveiled this week a bundle of steep tariff increases on an array of Chinese imports including electric vehicle (EV) batteries, computer chips and medical products, risking an election-year standoff with Beijing in a bid to woo voters who give his economic policies low marks.
• The meeting on May 24-25 among the G7 finance ministers in the northern Italian town of Stresa will reflect on the "fragmentation of global trade, with the latest moves by the American government, which has shown its cards with very tough measures against China", Giorgetti said.
• He was being interviewed for a conference in Milan on Tuesday organised by the Italian newspaper La Verita."The world as we have known it is finishing," Giorgetti said, adding that "a trade war is underway, which reflects geopolitical tensions" and Europe still needs to carve out its role in the evolving scenario.
• Another item on the agenda for the meeting will be how to use frozen Russian assets seized after Moscow invaded Ukraine, the Italian minister said. The G7 froze around $300 billion worth of financial assets soon after Moscow's attack in February 2022. Since then, the European Union and other G7 countries have debated how and whether to use the funds to help Ukraine.

(Source: Reuters)