When Japan’s prime minister, Fumio Kishida, welcomes Western leaders to the Group of Seven summit this week, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will be front of mind. The summit, after all, is taking place in Hiroshima, where the U.S. dropped the first nuclear bomb in World War II, and all of the G7 countries — the U.S., the UK, France, Germany, Japan, Italy, and Canada — have deplored Russia for its “irresponsible nuclear rhetoric” and military aggression.
But for Japan especially, the G7 represents another important opportunity: the chance to discuss economic security, which is broadly defined as the interaction between national security and economics.
Illustration by Nate Kitch
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Rare Earth Reshore
The quest for economic security gave life to the G7 some 50 years ago. After the 1973
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