Theresa May will briefly leave her government’s Brexit turmoil behind to persuade Donald Trump to re-think US steel imports.
The prime minister will be joined by her counterparts from France, Germany, Italy, Canada, and Japan as they establish a plan to convince the US President to halt the punitive tariffs on steel and aluminium exports to the US.
After a day in which the resignation of her Brexit secretary, David Davis, was narrowly averted, the prime minister has arrived in Quebec, Canada, ahead of a two-day meeting of the G7 at Charlevoix.
The meeting of the world’s seven wealthiest industrial nations is expected to be dominated by discussions around the US president’s controversial trade strategy.
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A senior government source said Mrs May will use the summit to defend the global rules-based system, and will call for World Trade Organisation (WTO) processes to be made more efficient so that international trade systems work better for all countries.
Working sessions of the leaders are also expected to cover accusations of Russian interference in Western democracies, as well as discussions about North Korea, Syria and the Iran nuclear deal.
The summit will also provide the opportunity for Mrs May to discuss other key parts of her international agenda, including a call for leaders to work harder to crackdown on online gender-based abuse during a session on empowering and supporting girls and women around the world.
Image: Massive US tariffs on EU steel imports have come into force
The prime minister is expected to point towards the relative success in pressuring social media platforms to develop algorithms that detect and remove terrorist content automatically.
She will argue the same technology should be used to protect women and girls from online rape threats, harassment and blackmail.
The Tory leader will also urge fellow G7 leaders to follow the UK in looking at bringing forward specific legislation to target the perpetrators of such abuse.
A white paper due to be published later this year is expected to introduce a mandatory social media code of practice to crack down on online bullying and harassment.
Image: Donald Trump signs a presidential proclamation placing tariffs on aluminium and steel imports
It will also introduce new rules on transparency reporting, which would expect platforms to publish numbers of posts removed and accounts suspended.
“What is illegal offline is illegal online and I am calling on world leaders to take serious action to deal with this, just like we are doing in the UK with our commitment to legislate on online harms such as cyber-stalking and harassment,” Mrs May is expected to say.
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“Online violence against women and girls should not be separated from offline violence and the technology companies who are making welcome progress in banning and removing extremist content must use the same methods to prioritise tackling this unacceptable and deeply worrying rising trend.”
She will also say it is a “devastating waste of potential” that 130 million girls around the world do not have sufficient access to education, and pledge £187m towards funding the education of around 400,000 girls in developing countries, such as Afghanistan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Nepal, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Source: Sky