G-7 to counter China economic coercion, US envoy says

Group of Seven countries are working on concrete ways to cooperate against economic coercion from China, US Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel said just days ahead of the group’s summit.

“Expect more than words and communiques on economic coercion — expect action,” Emanuel said in a tweet posted Tuesday. “G-7 members are developing the tools to deter and defend against China’s economic intimidation and retaliation.”

China is set to be a key focus of discussions at the leaders’ summit, which starts in the western city of Hiroshima on Friday and includes the UK, Germany, Canada, France, Italy and the EU alongside the US and Japan. The group’s trade ministers last month expressed “serious concern” about economic coercion and said they’d explore joint responses to it. 

Emanuel’s comments came amid wrangling among the US — which has advocated for other G-7 nations to take stronger positions on Beijing — and European countries that would prefer to focus on coordination and general warnings against coercive behavior. 

The debate reflects the dilemma facing the US, Europe and China’s neighbors such as Japan on how to deal with China’s growing economic clout when their supply chains remain so interlinked with the world’s second-biggest economy. G-7 nations are all dependent in some fashion on Chinese goods in key areas.

Beijing has been accused of using trade policy to target countries including Australia, Japan and South Korea over diplomatic disputes. Japan has invited the leaders of both countries and other nations to attend outreach sessions at the summit. 

China has repeatedly hit back at allegations of coercion, saying the US is guilty of using such methods itself. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin has also blasted the G-7 as a “small clique that puts the US first.”

The leaders’ summit is expected to produce a document on economic coercion separate from the main communique, Bloomberg reported earlier this month. 

G-7 negotiators are moving toward a statement that would promise support for countries targeted by economic coercion, Japanese public broadcaster NHK said Tuesday, without specifying where it got the information.