Stormy summit on the cards
MANY CONTENTIOUS ISSUES TO BE DISCUSSED Disagreements range from wars to climate change and global trade.
Leaders of the world’s top economies will gather tomorrow in Germany for likely the stormiest G20 summit in years, with disagreements ranging from wars to climate change and global trade.
There are many volatile issues and disputes and key personalities involved in the July 7-8 meeting in the northern port city of Hamburg.
Germany has made climate protection a priority of its G20 presidency.
It had hoped to get the world’s biggest industrialised and emerging economies to commit to taking the lead in implementing the landmark 2015 Paris climate deal on keeping the global rise in temperatures “well below” 2oC from preindustrial times.
But Trump dashed those hopes after vowing in early June that he would pull the world’s second biggest carbon emitter out of the Paris accord.
Host Chancellor Angela Merkel admitted that after Trump’s announcement, she “knew that we could not expect discussions to be easy”.
But she and European allies have vowed to defend the climate pact, setting them on a collision course with Trump.
Signing up to an antiprotectionist pledge used to be routine at G20 meetings, but not this time.
Trump, swept to power by popular anger over de-industrialisation in vast parts of the United States, has pledged to “follow two simple rules: buy American and hire American”.
That has put him at odds with many US trading partners, including export giants Germany and China, whom he has criticised over their massive trade surpluses.
With accusations of Russian meddling in the US elections and contacts between Trump’s senior aides and President Vladimir Putin’s men, the vexed relationship between the two will be closely scrutinised when they meet face to face for the first time tomorrow.
The two leaders face an array of contentious foreign policy issues, from Syria to Ukraine and North Korea.
Trump has struck a tough tone on Russia’s ally Syria, while Washington’s decision to toughen sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine has angered Moscow.
Merkel also faces a testy meeting with Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, particularly after Berlin refused him permission to address ethnic Turks on the sidelines of the summit. – AFP