indica News Bureau-
On Saturday, when on board of Air Force One, President Donald Trump decided to postpone the G7 Summit that was scheduled on June. The 46th edition was scheduled to be held on June 10 through June 12, 2020, originally to take place in Camp David, United States. But due to coronavirus pandemic, it was decided to be a first-ever online conference.
Speaking to reporters on Air Force One during his return to Washington from Cape Canaveral in Florida, Trump said the G7, whose members are the world’s most advanced economies, was a “very outdated group of countries” in its current format.
“I’m postponing it because I don’t feel that as a G7 it properly represents what’s going on in the world,” Trump said.
He told the reporter he had hoped to hold the summit on September or later and expand the list of invitees to include Australia, Russia, South Korea, and India.
The current members of G7 are the United States, Britain, France, Japan, Germany, Italy and Canada.
The inclusion of India in the G7 is unusual. Although it’s the fifth-largest economy in the world, India is technically not a high economy country. Moreover, India is already part of G20. So, if Trump wanted a broader representation, he could have probably scrapped G7 and continued with G20 only.
However, Trump’s reason for the inclusion of new countries in G7 was unclear.
Alyssa Farah, a White House spokeswoman, said Trump wants the countries to discuss China and its handling of the coronavirus at the summit.
Trump has been openly criticizing China’s behavior over a lot of issues, and even warning that they are in the brink of a new ‘cold war’.
On Friday he ordered his administration to begin the process of ending special US treatment for Hong Kong in retaliation for China’s decision to impose a new security law.
The exclusion of China and the inclusion of India shows that Trump’s seriousness about decoupling China from the global supply chain and pushing for India as the new ‘factory of the world’.
Once India is part of this exclusive club of high-income countries along with Australia, South Korea, and Russia – it will be the only country with low income and cheap labor, with tremendous potential to grow.
This is really crucial time for India where it is being presented with opportunities in an unprecedented way. The aggressive expansion of China across the world may be the reason for the other nations to elsewhere, but India with the right mindset surely stands to gain during these changing times.
