G7 Trade Ministers - Boosting the resilience and fairness of global trade

Ahead of the Leaders’ Summit in Évian (from 15 to 17 June), the Trade Ministers of the G7 countries – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States – will meet in Paris on 5 and 6 May. The aim is to identify common focuses to address the transformations of global trade and enhance cooperation between partners.

THREE QUESTIONS TO NICOLAS FORISSIER, Minister Delegate for Foreign Trade and Economic Attractiveness, attached to the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs

1. What is the context surrounding this G7 Trade Ministers’ Meeting?

This meeting comes amid major uncertainty for global trade. Supply chains are under strain, market volatility is rising and structural imbalances persist in the global economy. Geopolitical crises, particularly in the Middle East, are also stifling trade and energy flows, with a direct impact on supply conditions and prices. In this context, the G7 is an essential setting to engage in dialogue, coordinate analysis and identify common solutions in order to guarantee a more stable and predictable trade environment.

2. What can we say about global trade?

Several trends are setting in. Firstly, certain non-market practices are continuing to create distortions that feed into industrial overcapacities, unfair competition and unnecessary trade pressures.

Moreover, the vulnerabilities of value chains, including in strategic sectors such as critical minerals, are thrown into sharper relief, with excessive dependencies and risks of breakdowns in supply.

Finally, the swift rise of e-commerce has brought new challenges as regards regulation, security and fairness. For example, we want to bring an end to the imbalances caused to our markets by massive shipping of small, low-value packages.

3. How will this meeting address these challenges?

This meeting should bring tangible and coordinated progress. We are going to enhance our collective analytical capacity, improve transparency and sharing of information, and draw on tools to better address market distortion. We will also speed up work on the resilience of supply chains, including as regards critical minerals, by identifying vulnerabilities, diversifying supply sources and developing cooperation with trusted partners. Finally, we will foster initiatives to modernize the global trade framework, including WTO reform and better regulation of e-commerce. 

Our aim is clear: to build effective common responses to today’s challenges.

Photo: © MEAE