Day 3 of the 2021 G7 Summit

President Biden says he doesn’t view NATO as a “protection racket,” seeking to draw a sharp line between his views of the defense alliance and his predecessor’s.

Biden said he would reiterate American commitment to Article 5 collective defense.

“I want them to know, whether they doubted, that we believe NATO in Section Five is a sacred obligation,” he said.

Former US President Trump was frequently critical of NATO, saying countries weren’t paying enough for American protection.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the first G7 Summit under President Biden’s Presidency was a return to a “familiar language.”

“For four years we have, not only us Europeans, but also with our Canadian and Japanese partners in the G7, done everything possible to ensure that the world order in which we believe can continue to function,” Macron said in a closing news conference on Sunday. 

Referring to the previous tense summits involving former US President Donald Trump, Macron told reporters the G7 format’s “effectiveness had been questioned.” 

France also pledged to double its commitments from 30 to 60 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine for developing countries by the end of the year. “In a very concrete way, the African Union will receive 5 million doses by the end of the summer.”

US President Joe Biden said he was “satisfied” with the agreed G7 communique’s points on China, and once again called for the country to be transparent on Covid-19, telling reporters it’s important to know whether the virus came from animal or “whether it was an experiment gone awry.”

Asked whether he was disappointed the communique didn’t go as far on China as the US may have liked, Biden noted the G7 explicitly agreed to call out human rights issues, non-market issues and forced labor.

“I think there’s plenty of action on China and there’s always something,” Biden said when asked about the G7’s statement, adding: “I’m satisfied.”

Biden also told reporters it’s important for China to be more transparent so the world knows where the virus came from, including if it was “an experiment gone awry in a laboratory.”

Biden added, “It’s important to know the answer to that because we have to access, we have to build the system whereby we can know what, when we see another lack of transparency that may produce another pandemic. We have to have access. The world has to have access.”

Some more context: World leaders attending the Group of Seven summit on Sunday issued a call for a new study into the origins of Covid-19, including in China, after an initial report was deemed lacking because Beijing had refused to cooperate.

They agreed to speak out against human rights abuses in China, a matter that had been hotly debated behind closed doors over the course of the three-day summit.

The leaders, in the G7 summit communiqué, also singled out Russia as harboring networks that have conducted ransomware attacks wreaking havoc on critical systems, saying countries must do more to address criminal activity within their borders.

You can read the full communiqué here.

President Joe Biden just departed from Newquay airport in Cornwall en route to Windsor Castle where he will meet with Queen Elizabeth.

The monarch’s meeting with Biden and first lady Jill Biden comes during the President’s visit to the United Kingdom for the G7 summit, his first trip abroad since taking office.

It will also be the Queen’s first major meeting with a world leader since the death of her husband, Prince Philip, in April, and comes after a year in which most of her in-person engagements were shelved because of the coronavirus pandemic.

President Biden suggested Sunday morning that he needs more time regarding ongoing Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs. 

Pressed by a reporter on how European allies are concerned about the sanctions and his justification for keeping them in place, Biden said, “120 days. Give me a break. I need time,” referring to his first few months in office.

It was the last question Biden took before ending his news conference, leaving the room after. All told, the news conference lasted about 30 minutes.

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends an event via video at the Novo-Ogaryovo state residence, outside Moscow, on June 9.

US President Joe Biden said there’s no ”guarantee” to change a leader like Russian President Vladimir Putin’s behavior, but acknowledged that Russia has its own issues the US can use to negotiate.

“Autocrats have enormous power and they don’t have to answer to a public. The fact is that it very well may be that if I respond in kind which I will, that it doesn’t dissuade him - he wants to keep going,” Biden told the traveling press in Cornwall. 

Biden added though, that Russia has “its own dilemmas” pointing to their economy, Covid-19, and Syria and Libya. 

Asked why he believes Putin hasn’t changed his behavior in response to all of the actions the US has taken to this point, Biden simply answered with a laugh: “He’s Vladimir Putin.” 

“I’m not gonna get into much more than that because I’ve got to sit down with him but I’ll be happy to talk after that,” Biden said. 

Pressed on where he can negotiate, Biden told reporters: “I think I’m going to try very hard — there’s places where, I shouldn’t be starting off negotiating in public — let me say it this way: Russia has engaged in activities which we believe are contrary to international norms but they have also bitten off some real problems they’re going to have trouble chewing on.” 

Biden also said he was encouraged by Putin’s comments this morning that Russia is prepared to extradite cyber criminals to the US on a reciprocal basis, if the United States does the same.

World leaders attending the Group of Seven summit on Sunday issued a call for a new study into the origins of Covid-19 after an initial report was deemed lacking because Beijing had refused to cooperate.

They also agreed in a final statement to speak out against human rights abuses in China, a matter that had been hotly debated behind closed doors over the course of the three-day summit.

And they singled out Russia as harboring networks who have conducted ransomware attacks wreaking havoc on critical systems, saying countries must do more to address criminal activity within their borders.

Read the full communique below:

US President Joe Biden just wrapped a news conference following the end of the G7 summit, and touted the accomplishments of the gathering of world leaders.

Here are some of the things Biden said were pledged during the three-day summit:

Read more about the outcome of the summit here.

Asked if it is realistic to end the pandemic by 2022, President Biden said, “it might take slightly longer worldwide.”

Biden was asked how he plans to bridge the gap and help provide the billions of vaccine doses that are needed around the world. He said. “I think there is a possibility over 2022 going into 2023 that we would be able to be in a position to provide another billion” vaccine doses.

Biden said earlier during the news conference that the G7 has committed to provide more than one billion doses to countries around the world. He said “there was a clear consensus among all of our colleagues at the G7 that this wasn’t the end.” 

Biden said that in addition to providing doses, he intends to work with countries to develop their own technology to manufacture and distribute vaccines.

He said that it is the right thing to do from a “moral standpoint” and in terms of public health and security.

“You can’t build a wall high enough to keep out new strains,” Biden said.

US President Joe Biden said he thinks Russian President Vladimir Putin was correct when he said US-Russia relations are at a low point, in a news conference in Cornwall Sunday. 

“I think he’s right it’s a low point – and it depends on how he responds to acting consistent with international norms. Which in many cases he has not,” Biden said of Putin’s comments earlier this week. 

Biden also defended the decision to not hold a joint news conference with the Russian President, saying the summit is “not a contest about who can do better in front of a press conference or try to embarrass each other.”

Biden added that he also hopes the summit will provide ways in which the US and Russia can work together, adding that they may be able to do so in “terms of some strategic doctrine” and possibly on climate issues. 

“I think the best way to deal with this is for he and I to meet. He and I to have our discussion. I know you don’t doubt that I’ll be very straightforward with him,” Biden said with a laugh to the press. 

Biden said he will “make clear” from his view how the meeting turned out in a solo press conference after, and Putin will do the same, adding he didn’t want the summit to be overshadowed by such optics as “did they shake hands” or “who talked the most.”