Biden seeks to secure Ukraine’s future in the G7 beyond the US elections.

He US President Joe Bidenaims to ensure at the G7 summit, which will be held next week in Italy, the future of Ukraine’s economic support beyond the November elections, after which the Republican could return to the White House donald trump.

The main purpose of Washington at the summit, which will be held between June 13 and 15 in the Italian region of Apulia, will be to close an agreement that has been in negotiation for months so that Ukraine You can access a large loan that will allow you to finance yourself in 2025.

The money for that loan will come from the $300 billion in Russian central bank funds that have been frozen around the world, most of it in the European Union (EU)after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, a source familiar with the preparations for the event explained to a small group of journalists, including EFE.

These funds will not be confiscated directly for delivery to Kyivbut the accumulated interest of those assets, which Washington considers ownerless, but Moscow claim as their own, to finance the purchase of weapons and the reconstruction of Ukraine.

These assets could generate about US$3 billion a year in profits, but this amount is insufficient to keep Kiev afloat, since it would only cover the financing needs of the Ukrainian Executive for one month.

Therefore, the United States has proposed another idea: using future interest as collateral for a loan that, up front, could provide Ukraine with a substantially larger sum, potentially up to $50 billion.

The main objective of the Biden Government is to economically shield Ukraine against the political ups and downs of each member of the G7, especially USAgiven the possibility of a return of trump to power, who during his mandate promoted isolationism under the motto “USA first”.

However, the agreement is not yet closed and the legal framework is still being debated due to the reluctance of some European countries, which fear possible Russian retaliation against the few Western companies that maintain investments in Russia or against the Euroclear securities depository in Belgium, where most of the frozen assets are located.

In any case, the US goal is to announce a general agreement in principle at the summit and specify details later through negotiations, according to the aforementioned source.

In addition to this pact to guarantee funds to Ukraine, Biden will search in the G7 explore with other leaders the possibility of expanding sanctions on Russian entities that help the Kremlin in the war, the same source added.

China, in the spotlight

Another hot topic at the summit will be Chinaa country that has been gaining relevance in the G7 debates, although the members –USAthe United Kingdom, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the European Union– maintain positions that vary slightly with respect to the Asian giant.

Biden, who sees Beijing as his greatest rival, will seek to focus attention on Chinese production of clean energy technologies, such as solar panels or electric vehicles, which according to Washington is being carried out excessively with the aim of saturating the global market and eliminate competition with low prices.

less than a month ago, Biden imposed 100% tariffs on electric vehicles made in China and, shortly after, the European Commission (EC) announced that it would study similar steps.

Finally, Washington will also take advantage of the summit to talk with its allies about artificial intelligencecooperation on migration matters, and the possibility of offering emerging countries alternatives to Chinese loans, in order to distance them from Beijing’s orbit of influence.