National Post (National Edition)
BUENOS AIRES SUMMIT COULD BE A TENSE ONE
CANADA SANCTIONS 17 SAUDI OFFICIALS FOR ROLE IN MURDER OF JOURNALIST
On Wednesday evening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau boarded a plane to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where world leaders are gathering for what’s expected to be an especially tense summit. By Thursday morning his foreign minister was announcing sanctions on 17 officials from one G20 member, Saudi Arabia, for their role in the murder of a journalist in Turkey, another G20 nation.
What Chrystia Freeland called a “vile” killing is only one issue that threatens to lead tensions among the world’s biggest economies to boil over.
Put U.S. President Donald Trump in a room with Trudeau, Germany’s Angela Merkel and France’s Emmanuel Macron, and things are going to be interesting already, as we found out at this year’s G7 summit near Quebec City. But this time Saudi Arabia, China and Russia are also invited to dinner.
The Group of 20 is responsible for about 85 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product, so discussions ostensibly are focused on the global economy but always affected by political headwinds. The group also includes the European Union, the United Kingdom, India, Brazil, Japan, Italy, Australia, Indonesia, Mexico, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey.
Here are four things Canadians should watch as Trudeau sits at that table Friday and Saturday. Magnitsky, an accountant who died while in Russian custody after investigating corruption — to impose sanctions on 17 individuals tied to the murder, joining France and the U.S. The sanctions freeze any assets the targets might have in Canada and says they cannot enter the country.
“This case is not closed,” Freeland told reporters. “Those responsible for the murder of Mr. Khashoggi must be held to account and face justice.”
MBS, as he’s nicknamed, can expect a frosty reception from his Turkish counterpart as a matter of course. But all eyes will be on his interactions with Trump, who rejected the findings of his own security officials in defending the crown prince.
Aside from the political questions that understandably arise from the brutal killing of a political dissident, many billions of dollars in arms deals hang in the balance. Canada is reviewing its export permits. In a bipartisan vote, a majority of Democrat and Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate endorsed a freeze on the flow of weapons to Saudi Arabia used to support its deadly bombing campaign in Yemen — a measure that Trump nonetheless has threatened to veto. of Russian interference in Western elections, it may not make Putin very popular among his colleagues.