G20 leaders agree on Bush tributes, but little else

BUENOS AIRES: A Sino-us showdown on trade loomed on Saturday as G20 leaders wrapped up tense summit talks with a rare show of unity over the death of former president George Bush.

There was an implicit contrast in some of the tributes offered at the Buenos Aires summit between Bush and the current White House occupant, Donald Trump, whose disruptive brand of diplomacy has stoked the deepest divisions in the G20’s 10-year history.

“He was a world leader, who strongly supported the alliance with Europe,” said French President Emmanuel Macron, who has been lobbying other G20 leaders to carve out a 19 v 1 statement on climate change excluding Trump.

British Prime Minister Theresa May lauded the late Bush as “a great statesman and a true friend of our country,” words that few observers in Britain would apply to Trump.

Trump himself said Bush had “inspired generations of his fellow Americans to public service.”

There was no immediate comment in Buenos Aires from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who regards the breakup of the Soviet Union under Bush’s presidency as a historical “tragedy.”

Bush also served as US envoy to China in the 1970s as the countries were establishing relations.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was also yet to comment.