The Group of Seven (G7) nations want to put the global economy back on a path of balanced and sustainable growth, according to a statement issued on Wednesday at their summit in France.
Resilience must be strengthened and lasting market distortions, overcapacities and imbalances must be combated, the leaders of the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Britain and Japan agreed.
Resilient and reliable supply chains are indispensable for economic security, the leaders said. Vulnerabilities in strategic sectors and critical technologies should be identified and reduced to curb excessive dependencies.
They also stressed the need to involve emerging and developing economies beyond the G7 in efforts to achieve more balanced global growth.
G7 call for stable energy and raw materials markets
With an eye on the US-Iran war, the G7 countries called for the rapid restoration of free and secure shipping through the Strait of Hormuz without any levies.
"We underline the importance of affordable access to energy and reaffirm our commitment to well-functioning, stable and transparent markets for energy and other commodities," the statement said.
As a lesson from the crisis in the Middle East, the G7 appealed to oil-importing countries to set up adequate and effective oil reserve systems that would meet the International Energy Agency's demand for 90-day reserves.
Global trade out of balance
The current trade landscape is marked by a large US trade deficit driven by strong consumption and rising debt, while China continues to post record surpluses through an export-led growth model and relatively weak domestic demand. Europe, meanwhile, remains caught between tariffs imposed by its largest export market, the US, and intensifying competition from Chinese manufacturers.
