Live updates: Biden, other G-7 leaders gather for family photo, reception with royals and pandemic discussion – The Washington Post

First lady Jill Biden and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, met for the first time Friday as they jointly toured a school in Cornwall, England, and prepared to hold a roundtable discussion on early education.

The two chatted before heading to a classroom at Connor Downs Academy, where they visited with 4- and 5-year-olds.

A staffer reminded them to put on face masks as they went inside.

“Thank you for reminding us,” said Catherine, the wife of Prince William, who is second in the line of succession to the British throne.

Head of School Janice Eddy told reporters that the school serves students who have experienced trauma in their lives. She said it has outdoor classrooms where children plant vegetables and flowers and work with animals.

Inside the classroom, Biden and the duchess spoke with small groups of students, with Biden, a longtime educator, helping with Legos at one point.

“It’s very important to the foundation,” Biden said of early education. “As a teacher at the upper levels, if they don’t have a good foundation, they fall so far behind. This is amazing to see how far advanced they are.”

After the tour, the first lady and duchess were scheduled to host a roundtable with four British early-childhood experts, while three U.S. experts were to join via Zoom, the White House said.

Ahead the formal start of the G-7 summit, the White House announced that Biden would welcome one of its leaders — German Chancellor Angela Merkel — to Washington next month as he continues seeking to repair relationships that frayed under his predecessor.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would host Merkel at the White House on July 15.

Merkel and President Donald Trump had a frosty relationship that deteriorated toward the end of Trump’s tenure. After the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Merkel chided Trump for failing to accept the election results. Trump reportedly called Merkel a “loser.”

“Chancellor Merkel’s visit will affirm the deep bilateral ties between the United States and Germany,” Psaki said in a statement. “The leaders will discuss their commitment to close cooperation on a range of common challenges, including ending the COVID-19 pandemic, addressing the threat of climate change, and promoting economic prosperity and international security based on our shared democratic values.”

Biden and other Group of Seven leaders are arriving in Cornwall, England, for the first day of the G-7 summit that will include a “family photo,” a reception with members of Britain’s royal family and a more substantive session focused on rebuilding from the pandemic.

The leaders of the G-7 nations — the United States, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy and Japan — will gather at Carbis Bay for what has been advertised as a “socially distanced” version of their traditional photo.

The first discussion session, focused on recovery from the coronavirus, follows Biden’s announcement Thursday that the United States will donate 500 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine to poor nations. Other G-7 countries are expected to announce their intentions to help as well.

In the evening, Biden and other leaders are scheduled to travel to the Eden Project, an attraction where massive bio-domes house the largest enclosed rainforest, for a reception with members of the royal family.

Among those expected to attend are Queen Elizabeth II, her son Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, and the queen’s grandson Prince William and his wife, Catherine.

Group of Seven leaders on Friday are expected to endorse a minimum global tax rate of at least 15 percent, formalizing what finance ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States agreed to last weekend.

The White House heralded the agreement as critical to building an “equitable” tax system and to ending the so-called “race to the bottom” — countries competing over who can offer the lowest tax rates to big corporations — that often comes at the expense of workers.

“By making big multinational corporations pay their fair share and raising resources to fund priorities for domestic renewal — such as infrastructure, childcare, affordable housing and education — a global corporate minimum tax is a key part of our efforts to deliver a foreign policy for the middle class, and will help support working families everywhere,” the White House said in a statement Friday.

The White House said the deal also “paves the way” for the removal of digital service taxes, which some countries have enacted on large companies that make money online in those countries, even if they do not have physical headquarters there.

European countries had pushed to levy taxes on large tech companies such as Apple and Amazon, but the United States did not want tech companies singled out.

As a compromise, in place of digital service taxes, taxing rights would be reallocated to places where “the largest and most profitable multinational corporations” are doing business and making money, according to the White House.

“This is an important principle for the United States, and will ensure that big multinational companies across the economy will pay a little more in the places where they operate, whether or not they have their headquarters there,” the White House said.

G-7 leaders will also discuss Friday boosting the reserves of the International Monetary Fund by up to $100 billion to support the neediest countries as they recover from the coronavirus pandemic, the White House said.

CARBIS BAY, England — Queen Elizabeth II will play a more prominent role than anticipated at the Group of Seven summit, meeting world leaders at a reception on Friday evening, before she hosts President Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Sunday.

The queen, 95, is scheduled to be joined at the reception by her son Prince Charles and his wife, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, as well as her grandson Prince William and his wife, Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

The setting will be the Eden Project, a local tourist attraction that features a cluster of domed biomes — which will help to underscore the environmental emphasis of the summit.

Jill Biden and Catherine are also scheduled to meet at a separate engagement on Friday.

ST IVES, England — This year’s Group of Seven summit is being held in a stunning but stunningly hard-to-reach part of England, at a moment when there is talk in Britain about a possible third wave of the coronavirus, fueled by the highly contagious delta variant. But that hasn’t stopped protesters from trying to command the attention of some of the wealthiest countries on the planet.

The leaders of Britain, the United States, France, Germany, Canada, Italy, Japan and the European Union are meeting for a three-day summit in towns dotted through Cornwall, a top holiday destination for Brits.

G-7 and other similar summits have long been a focus for protesters. But this is the first time organizers have planned gatherings during a pandemic. Resist G7, a coalition group, is encouraging its supporters to take lateral flow tests, follow social distancing rules and wear masks. Organizers are also encouraging supporters to ignore the police’s recommended protest sites, which are not in the towns the leaders are staying or meeting in.

ST. IVES, England — President Biden and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson have different politics, different styles and some deep differences of opinion, including over Britain’s exit from the European Union.

Biden, when running for president, once even disparaged Johnson as a “physical and emotional clone” of President Donald Trump.

But the two leaders were all smiles as they met for the first time Thursday, and they both underscored the history and durability of transatlantic ties as they focused on common goals such as ending the covid-19 pandemic and combating climate change.

To mark their shared interest in cycling, Biden gifted Johnson a custom-made touring bicycle and helmet Thursday from Bilenky Cycle Works, a small family business in Philadelphia, the White House said.

When he was mayor of London, Johnson often rode his bike to work and helped launch a bicycle rental program in the city that some called “Boris Bikes.” Johnson was hospitalized last year in serious condition with covid-19 but recovered and resumed cycling long distances.

Biden also has long loved bicycling and often goes on leisurely bike rides near his home in Delaware, including last week to celebrate his wife’s 70th birthday. He has also worked out on a Peloton bike, although aides are keeping tight-lipped about whether he still uses one in the White House.

In 2010, Bilenky Cycle Works founded the Philadelphia Bike Expo, which has become one of the largest cycling trade shows in the United States.