CARBIS BAY, England (AP) — Leaders from the Group of Seven industrialized nations are set to commit at their summit to sharing at least 1 billion coronavirus shots with struggling countries around the world — half the doses coming from the U.S. and 100 million from the U.K.
Vaccine sharing commitments from U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson set the stage for the G-7 meeting in southwest England, where leaders will pivot Friday from opening greetings and a “family photo” directly into a session on “Building Back Better From COVID-19.”
“We’re going to help lead the world out of this pandemic working alongside our global partners,” Biden said. The G-7 also includes Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan.
The leaders hope the meeting in the resort of Carbis Bay will also energize the global economy. On Friday, they are set to formally embrace a global minimum tax of at least 15% on corporations, following an agreement reached a week ago by their finance ministers. The minimum is meant to stop companies from using tax havens and other tools to avoid taxes.
Former world leaders and current G-7 finance ministers are talking vaccines and corporate tax rates respectively ahead of the G-7 Summit later this week.
100 former presidents, prime ministers, and foreign ministers urged the G-7 nations to pay for global COVID-19 vaccinations.
The G-7 finance ministers met over the weekend. At the meeting, they agreed to support a global minimum corporate tax rate of at least 15%.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen a step towards ending a “race to the bottom in corporate taxation.”
“The global minimum tax would also help the global economy thrive by leveling the playing field for businesses and encouraging countries to compete on positive bases such as educating and training our workforces, and investing in research and development and infrastructure,” Yellen said.
The finance ministers also endorsed proposals to make the world’s biggest companies pay taxes in countries where they make a lot of sales, but have no physical headquarters.
At the summit later this week, the G-7 leaders are set to discuss COVID-19, climate change and trade.