US president says group agrees on diversifying supply chains and de-risking without decoupling.
Seven of the world’s wealthiest nations aim to diversify supply chains away from China and protect critical advanced technologies but are not about to decouple from the world’s second-biggest economy, US President Joe Biden said on Sunday. Speaking at the end of the Group of Seven summit in the Japanese city of Hiroshima, Biden said the G7 had a united position on China’s “ economic coercion ” – an accusation that Beijing denies. “We’re not looking to decouple from China. We’re looking to de-risk and diversify our relationship with China,” Biden said. “That means taking steps to diversify our supply chains and so we’re not dependent on any one country for necessary products. “It means resisting economic coercion. “Together, countering harmful practices that hurt our workers means protecting a narrow set of advanced technologies critical for our national security. And those elements are all agreed on by the G7.” China hit back at Biden’s claims, accusing the United States of unfair practices. “The United States has engaged in unilateral sanctions, ‘supply chain decoupling’, and weaponisation of economic and trade issues,” the Chinese embassy in Britain said. “It is the real coercion.
