G7 meets 8/24 - 8/26 in Biarritz

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Thought I'd begin a thread for all the goings on this weekend.

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Leaders of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations are to gather in Biarritz, southwest France, on 24-26 August for their 45th annual summit.
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French President Emmanuel Macron will play host to the heads of state and government of Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States.

The talks come against a bleak backdrop of slowing global growth and U.S. President Donald Trump's America-first trade policies, which have led to a bitter tariff war with China and tensions with Europe.

Discussions are also expected to focus on the situation in the Persian Gulf, the regulation of technology companies and the trustworthiness of cryptocurrencies, such as Facebook's recently announced Libra, under a summit theme of 'fighting inequality'.
https://www.ap.org/live-and-location...-biarritz-2019

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Boris Johnson has arrived in Paris for showdown Brexit talks with Macron this afternoon.
The pair smiled and had a firm handshake as they met outside the Elysee Palace despite the French President saying last night that a fresh Brexit deal is "not an option" as the PM arrives in Paris today for more showdown talks.

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Boris Johnson got a huge Brexit boost from Angela Merkel tonight as she suggested it was possible to get a new Irish border solution in 30 days.
The PM's first overseas trip got off to a flying start as the German Chancellor gave him a fresh deadline to come up with fresh ideas to replace the hated backstop.

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What is the Brexit backstop and what would it mean for the Irish border?

The backstop plan is essentially a safety net if there is no Brexit trade deal.

It would avoid a hard border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland.

Also, it would ensure that no "tariffs, quotas, rules of origin or customs processes" would be applied to UK-EU trade - keeping Britain in a single customs territory with the EU.

This would also leave Northern Ireland in the EU's single market for goods - meaning good crossing the border would not be subject to checks for customs or product standards.

But it is unclear if the UK would be able to strike free trade agreements with other countries while the backstop endured.

And it is feared the UK would end up being trapped in the customs union for years, preventing the country from being able to strike its own trade deals on goods with countries outside the EU.

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Vladimir Putin arrives at Emmanuel Macron's summer retreat on France's Mediterranean coast and offers a bouquet of flowers to the presidential couple, for a bilateral visit, just days before Emmanuel Macron hosts world leaders including US President Donald Trump for the August 24-26 Group of Seven (G7) summit in Biarritz.

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Trump's message to G7 leaders this weekend: Be more like U.S.
Jeff Mason

3 Min Read

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump will highlight U.S. economic policies under his stewardship at meetings with other G7 leaders this weekend in France and encourage allies to follow the American model to stave off problems with the global economy, officials said.
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks at the AMVETS (American Veterans) National Convention in Louisville, Kentucky. U.S., August 21, 2019. REUTERS/Bryan Woolston

Trump will attend the G7 summit in France from Saturday to Monday and plans to hold individual meetings with the leaders of Britain, France, Germany, Japan, India and Canada during his trip, senior administration officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, told reporters on a conference call.

The president, who is irritated with the Federal Reserve for not reducing interest rates further as talk about a potential recession makes headlines, will tout the U.S. economic model he has pushed forward through tax cuts and deregulation, one official said.

“You will really hear the president hit home the message of the pro-jobs, pro-growth economic agenda,” the official said. “We’ve seen growth rates that we didn’t think were possible just a few years ago. And you ... contrast this to what’s happening in Europe where growth is effectively flat.”

Trump will talk to his counterparts about how to open up European, Japanese and Canadian markets to ensure U.S. businesses have avenues to sell good and services and to ensure that allies’ economies grow along with the United States, she said.

Those talks could become complicated. Trump’s trade policies have created tension with many members of the G7 in some form.

Trump will raise his displeasure with French President Emmanuel Macron about France’s digital services tax, which affects large U.S. technology companies, the officials said. Trump has threatened to put tariffs on French wine in retaliation.

Trump will hold his first meeting with new British Prime Minister Boris Johnson since Johnson took on the role. The two men will discuss a U.S.-UK trade pact and Britain’s efforts to exit the European Union.

In addition to trade tensions, the leaders are also likely to differ over Trump’s desire to have Russia re-enter the grouping, making it the G8.

One official said there was unlikely to be a vote on the issue because the G7 leaders operated under consensus, but he said the topic was expected to come up.

Trump voiced support this week for Russia to rejoin the group and suggested there would be a vote to decide.

The official noted that Russia had not formally requested to be re-admitted to the group. The official said that would be necessary for any such move to take place.

Russia was kicked out of the G8 after annexing Crimea.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-g...-idUSKCN1VC2D0

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August 24

11am: Press briefing by European Council President Donald Tusk
7.30pm: Official welcome by French President Emmanuel Macron
8.30pm: Informal dinner of the G7 leaders

August 25

9.30am: Working session
1pm: Working lunch - The fight against inequality
2pm: Presentation of the report by the G7 Gender Equality Advisory Council
3pm: Working session - The G7 partnership with Africa
7pm: Extended dinner with spouses

August 26

10am: Extended working session - Climate, biodiversity, oceans
1pm: Extended working lunch - Digital transformation
2.45pm: G7 closing session

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Brexit boost: Boris Johnson and Donald Trump set to make US-UK trade deal at G7 summit
BORIS JOHNSON and Donald Trump will give the go ahead to trade talks when they meet in France at the G7 summit this weekend.
By Wesley Hudson
PUBLISHED: 00:07, Thu, Aug 22, 2019 | UPDATED: 00:34, Fri, Aug 23, 2019

The Prime Minister and the US President will agree to immediately start work on drawing up a negotiation timetable. This is the first major step towards getting an all-important post-Brexit deal. A source told the Daily Mail: “Both sides are in agreement that a trade deal is a priority and want to get moving quickly on getting one done.”

The so-called road map will be finalised by officials in the next few weeks.

It will outline a series of deadlines for the progression of trade talks over the next 12 months.

Mr Johnson and Trump will shake hands on the plan when they meet at New York’s UN General Assembly towards the end of September.

There will be one-on-one talks between Mr Johnson and Trump on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Biarritz, France, this weekend.

It will be the first time the two leaders will meet face-to-face since Mr Johnson moved into Downing Street.

The pair have reportedly been holding weekly telephone conversations.

After a phone call earlier this week, Trump tweeted: “Great discussion with Prime Minister Boris Johnson today.

“We talked about Brexit and how we can move rapidly on a US-UK free trade deal.

“I look forward to meeting with Boris this weekend at the G7 in France!”

Trump believes he and Mr Johnson are “very much aligned” and “feel very good about each other”.

During a separate phone call with Mr Johnson he said: “I think we’ll make a fantastic and big trade deal with the UK.

“We should do much more business than we’re doing with the UK.

“We’re going to have a great trade deal with UK and that’s moving along rapidly.”

Liz Truss, International Trade Secretary, flew to Washington earlier this month to meet with senior officials including US trade representative Robert Lightizer.

She described a UK-US trade agreement as a “golden opportunity” and has made it her top priority

Further trade deals are expected to be discussed when US Vice President Mike Pence visits London on September 5.

Despite the UK potentially securing a trade deal, senior figures in Washington have warned they could block any form of deal if the Good Friday Agreement is undermined.

Earlier this week Chuck Schumer, Senate Democratic leader, wrote to US secretary of state Mike Pompeo with concerns over the potential deal.

He warned Congress could work on a cross-party basis to block a deal if a hard border is introduces in Ireland from a no deal Brexit.

Mr Schumer argued the Trump administration needed to stop ‘over-promising an unconditional and realistic’ post-Brexit trade agreement with the UK.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/11...-deal-leave-eu

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South China Sea: Australia join forces with Vietnam against China as G7 looms
CHINA were put on high alert in the disputed South China Sea region as Australia and Vietnam pledged to team up against Beijing's expansionism ahead of crunch G7 talks.
By Kumail Jaffer
PUBLISHED: 12:30, Fri, Aug 23, 2019 | UPDATED: 12:49, Fri, Aug 23, 2019

Beijing has been accused of aggressively encroaching on other nations in the South China Sea in recent months. President Xi Jinping has had disputes with both Australia and Vietnam this month – but the two appear to have linked up to counter their common adversary. The decision comes just a day before the likes of Japan and the US will meet at the G7 summit – with China likely to be on the agenda.

Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc welcomed Australian leader Scott Morrison to Hanoi in the first visit since the nations agreed a "strategic partnership" earlier this year.

Following crunch talks over the Chinese threat, he said: “We are deeply concerned about the recent complicated developments in the East Sea and agree to cooperate in maintaining peace, stability, security, safety and freedom of navigation and overflight."

'East Sea' is a Vietnamese term used for the South China Sea, and is language not welcomed by Beijing.

The development comes despite an ongoing dispute over China's presence in the Vanguard Bank just off Vietnam's coast.

It is technically part of Vietnam's Exclusive Economic Zone – a region measuring 200km squared which only Hanoi is entitled to – but Chinese vessel Haiyang Dizhi 8 is continuing to survey the area.

It is backed up by seven other Chinese ships, which have themselves been countered by two Vietnamese vessels.

Last Friday Foreign Ministry spokesperson Le Thi Thu Hang said: “Vietnam has made contact with China to protest its repeated violations and demanded that China withdraw the vessel group from Vietnamese waters.”

Mr Morrison backed up his new ally and said: “Principles like freedom of navigation, freedom of overflight, to ensure nations can pursue the development opportunities which exist within their Exclusive Economic Zone and sea boundaries and can go about that business in a way which is uninhibited.

"It is about ensuring that each and every nation in the region can have confidence in its own independence and sovereignty.

"Australia and Vietnam are friends and, today, to use Australian parlance, we’ve gone from friends to mates."

South-East Asia expert Ben Bland told The Sydney Morning Herald that the two leaders were keen to strengthen their own grip on the region to balance out China's rise.

He added: "Yes, there is also a growing trade and economic relationship, of course. But the Vietnamese, in particular, want more partners interested in upholding the current international order in the region.

"That includes the US, Australia, the EU and even Russia.

"China is the subtext. This isn’t a defence dialogue.

"The overt discussions will be trade and economics, and the phrasing will be about maintaining the rules-based international order."

Their words came just days after the White House called out China for 'bullying' behaviour in the region.

National Security Adviser John Bolton said: "China’s recent escalation of efforts to intimidate others out of developing resources in the South China Sea is disturbing.

"The United States stands firmly with those who oppose coercive behaviour and bullying tactics which threaten regional peace and security."

Vietnam and Australia declared their official partnership last March in a document that committed to deepen "bilateral political cooperation" and security.

Prior to Mr Morrison's visit to Hanoi, Mr Phuc sent a thinly veiled appraisal of Australia's attitude towards China's behaviour in the region.

He said: "Concerning foreign affairs, Australia gives prominence to maintaining regional order based on laws, free trade and economic links while supporting the current regional structure with the central role of ASEAN in the region."

It comes just weeks after the Australian parliament was embroiled in controversy following a Conservative MP's comparison of China's rise to that of Nazi Germany.

Andrew Hastie wrote: “The West once believed that economic liberalisation would naturally lead to democratisation in China.

“This was our Maginot Line. It would keep us safe, just as the French believed their series of steel and concrete forts would guard them against the German advance in 1940. But their thinking failed catastrophically.

“The French had failed to appreciate the evolution of mobile warfare. Like the French, Australia has failed to see how mobile our authoritarian neighbour has become.”

Mr Morrison recently rejected placing US missiles in Australia in order to counter China.

Beijing feels it is entitled to 80 percent of the South China Sea – a region they define by the imagined ‘nine-dash line’.

It is targeting control of five nations – Vietnam, Philippines, Brunei, Hong Kong and Malaysia – according to analysis from Express.co.uk.

China also has its eye on Scarborough Shoal, the Paracel Islands and the Spratly Islands.

The first two are claimed by the Philippines and Vietnam respectively, while the Spratly Islands are claimed by five countries – China, Taiwan, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.
https://www.express.co.uk/news/world...7-biarritz-spt

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LIVE coverage...

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I love watching all the different countries' planes landing. Looks like a gorgeous day there.

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