Will America's allies feel the LOVE?
So, heres whats on tap for Friday in Cornwall: Biden, Emmanuel Macron and Boris Johnson will push for the group to collectively donate one billion Covid-19 vaccine doses to developing countries. In the same spirit, Johnson will push for a "climate Marshall Plan along with broader efforts towards a global economic recovery that reduces inequality. China is about to find out that when youre not at the table, youre on the menu. Speaking of menus: leaders will be served velvet crab, Dover sole, haggis mousse and pineapple weed (think wild chamomile) by Ugly Butterfly, a service that makes use of discarded food to reduce waste. A note from the pews: Journalists have found the summit organization to be unusually cumbersome  much of it due to Covid complications, some of it due to cicadas  theres even a Cornwall hotel housing journalists shutting down after a Covid outbreak. Dont worry: weve got you covered. Anita Kumar  White House Correspondent & Associate Editor  Biden is eager for the U.S. to reclaim the mantle of leadership in the world but he will find that much has changed in the last four years. Other countries, primarily European allies, including Britain, France and Germany, have attempted to fill the void the U.S. left on a variety of issues, from holding Irans nuclear ambitions in check to combating climate change, and they may not be eager to relinquish that power. Pauline de Saint Remy  Paris Playbook author  Emmanuel Macron has no intention of relinquishing the role he played when Trump was in power: holding up the walls of a multilateral system abandoned by the United States. During a press conference at the Elyse Palace yesterday, he showed that the trauma of the Trump years is still there, and Europe still intends to guard against the vagaries of American moods . David Herszenhorn  Chief Brussels Correspondent  Publicly, European leaders applauded Bidens move to make Americas global reputation great again , but they also bristled given that for more than a year, the U.S. effectively prohibited exports of vaccines as it worked to inoculate its own population. The EUs Ursula von der Leyen used a press conference to repeatedly tout how the EU had served as the worlds major exporter of vaccines, and called Bidens vaccine donation announcement potential.  Esther Webber  senior UK correspondent  Biden and Boris Johnson were denied the total love-in theyd tried to tee up after The Times of London reported Washingtons most senior diplomat in London summoned a U.K. minister earlier this month to offer a rebuke over the U.K.s handling of the Northern Ireland protocol. In public Biden played nice over Brexit ,  Stuart Lau  EU-China correspondent  China is the elephant in the room. Biden wants a tough and united front, but the French government wants Europe to craft its own China policy in the spirit of strategic autonomy instead of following the U.S. lead. Angela Merkel is less interested in calling out Beijings human rights violations than ramping up car sales. But Beijing has rocked a once positive vibe with Europe by sanctioning European parliamentarians. Nahal Toosi  Foreign Affairs Correspondent, WASHINGTON D.C  Biden is an old hand at summitry, and the fact that hes starting off by seeing a bunch of allies before heading to meet with Russian leader Vladimir Putin is by design. Partly itll warm him up ahead of the Putin meeting, but also its a diplomatic show of force by democracies toward China and Russia. If you see Biden laughing, patting people on shoulders and nodding along with smiles, it means hes feeling pretty good. A still, stern-faced Biden could signal not all is great. Kumar: Biden has important meetings in Cornwall and Brussels to be sure, but in the U.S. he will likely be judged by the Putin meeting. His administration has downplayed the possibility of any major policy agreement, which is all the more reason Biden will be judged on how he handles the criticism hes already getting for suggesting the meeting in the first place. Andy Blatchford  Canada correspondent  The restoration of unity in the club of major democracies is a big deal for a country like Canada. Trudeau and Canadian officials are focused on three Cs: Covid-19, China and climate. They think the G-7 will make progress contesting China in areas like human rights, and theyll work to advance commitments on democracy, gender and oceans. Webber: Johnson wants to make headway on climate change, with one eye on the next U.K.-hosted summit, COP26. Oh and, as per London Playbook, he will consider it a failure if he doesnt make Biden laugh. Ryan Heath  Global Translations author  If Frances Macron is this OTT in public, the leaders need to prepare for a really special show in private. Macron is hyper-actively pushing for more coordinated global Covid-19 action  on everything from vaccine donations to funding health systems. He also went where Biden didnt dare: publicly telling Boris Johnson hes not serious about how hes handling Brexit. Kumar: Biden has repeatedly stressed that his foreign policies will strengthen his domestic policies, directly benefiting average Americans back home. The concept isnt a completely new one for him, as we wrote this week, but its one that some observers say hes focusing on more now because hes trying to appeal to the slice of working-class voters who helped him win in 2020. Carmen Paun  global health correspondent  America is back, and now it has the vaccines to prove it. Its a grand gesture that will put pressure on other rich countries to step up their vaccine donation game, and it counters China and Russias vaccine diplomacy to poor countries, who either couldnt afford them or found themselves at the back of the line for Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. The U.S. donation total of 580 million doses dwarfs Chinas 23 million, and Russias 187,000. The next real test: dealing with Pfizer vaccine need for ultracold storage: Weve already seen some poor countries destroying or giving back AstraZeneca doses because they couldnt use them before the expiration date. You cant accuse Donald Trump of walking away from global leadership and then not make a move like this. And dont be surprised if countries demand even more from the United States down the line. How the Biden administration reacts later to such demands will be very interesting. Kumar: I totally agree with Carmen and Nahal. If Biden wants the United States to become a leader he needed to step up. Health organizations and human rights groups had been pushing the United States to do more. This move sets an example for other countries to follow. Heath: Allies like Belgium  which is home to Pfizers biggest factory  are peeved about how its happening. Belgiums prime minister told me that months of Biden prioritizing American vaccine production and controlling exports of vaccine raw materials has undercut global production. Now theyre worried about extended disruptions to these very sensitive supply chains because Biden insists on manufacturing the donated doses at home.  Webber: Determined not to be left out, the U.K. has announced it will send 100 million vaccines around the world. The amount is not as important as the signal it sends: Boris Johnson is currently under fire domestically, from across the political spectrum, for cutting the U.K. aid budget from 0.7 percent to 0.5 percent of national income. This allows him to argue he's not as inward-looking as his critics claim. Toosi: The document is not as boring as these documents tend to be. It definitely seems quite modern and forward leading. Im interested in this line, though: We will work through the rules-based international order to tackle global challenges together. Thats the sort of thing that tends to needle Moscow and Beijing, who have a different view of the rules and the international order.  Webber: The charter may be full of lofty ideals and vague overtures, but as a symbol its a pretty helpful one. Both administrations are seeking to steady the boat after the turbulent Trump years, and its a neat way to lend some heft to that effort. The document serves to underline a genuine area of agreement - the need for democracies to stick together as a counterweight to China and Russia - but cannot distract altogether from the ongoing tension over Northern Ireland. Now that all the G-7 leaders are on the ground in Cornwall, its time for the special guests to arrive: the leaders of India, South Africa, South Korea and Australia. Thats all part of Boris Johnsons plan to give the G-7 a glow-up, eventually turning the group into a D-10 or D-11, the D standing for democracy. Well see you in a few hours to wrap up the big first day.