G-7 leaders try to ease tension, vow to coordinate on virus

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States and its top economic allies pledged Monday to more closely share real-time information about the coronavirus and the availability of medical equipment and to support jobs, global trade and investment.

They also vowed to bolster science, research and technology and work to restore public confidence about the pandemic threatening the world's economy.

President Donald Trump and other members of the Group of Seven, which includes Canada, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and France, held a teleconference to coordinate responses to the coronavirus and reduce U.S.-European tension over Trump's travel ban and reports about White House talks with a German company developing a vaccine.

"We are mobilizing the full range of instruments, including monetary and fiscal measures, as well as targeted actions, to support immediately and as much as necessary the workers, companies and sectors most affected," they said in a statement.

Trump has had an on-again, off-again relationship with top U.S. allies, but his top economic adviser Larry Kudlow said there was a high degree of cooperation on display during the teleconference.

“They’re not always so agreeable, but they are today," Kudlow told reporters at the White House. "It’s a wonder to see.”

But the leaders also addressed a controversy involving German company CureVac that rattled top German officials, including Economy Minister Peter Altmaier, who said “Germany is not for sale.”

On Sunday, Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper, citing unidentified German government sources, reported that the former head of CureVac joined Trump's March meeting with pharmaceutical managers. The report said Trump apparently offered the German firm a large amount of funding to secure its work for the U.S.

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