The G7 on Sunday reaffirmed its commitment to “free and fair” international trade and condemned Russian pressure on Ukrainian wheat exports and recent restrictions on imports of Japanese seafood products, but without mentioning China by name.
Trade ministers from major industrialized democracies meeting this weekend in Osaka, western Japan, stressed “the fundamental need for fair competition in international trade relations” and the importance of a “free and fair trading system based on the rule of law.”
They “deplored and particularly condemned Russia’s destruction of Ukraine’s grain export infrastructure” after Moscow in July refused to renew the agreement allowing Kiev to export its grain crucial to world food security and bombed Ukraine’s grain and port infrastructure .
The G7 ministers (France, Japan, USA, Canada, Germany, Italy, UK) also called for “the immediate lifting of all measures that unnecessarily restrict trade”, particularly imports of Japanese food products, taking aim at Beijing and Moscow, without giving them names.
China and Russia recently suspended their imports of Japanese seafood because Tokyo discharged water into the sea from the site of the Fukushima Daiichi power plant (northeast of Japan), which was devastated by a tsunami in 2011.
“It is important that restrictions on food imports are based on scientific data” and comply with international rules, the G7 reiterated, while the discharge of water from Fukushima was validated by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
Discussions during the two-day summit also focused more broadly on “economic coercion” and anti-competitive practices by which certain countries use economic sanctions to pressure others, again a veiled reference to China.
The G7, whose countries want to reduce their dependence on imports, particularly from China and Russia, also stressed the “need to continue efforts to build resilient and reliable supply chains for essential goods such as critical minerals, semiconductors and batteries.”
The weekend’s debates also focused on food security, climate change and World Trade Organization (WTO) reform.