World powers shut Trump out on climate

Parties strike deal on market protectionism

HAMBURG: World powers lined up against US President Donald Trump on climate change, reaffirming their support for international efforts to fight global warming.

The Group of 20 summit that ended on Saturday in Hamburg also revealed tensions on trade, as the US administration and international partners forged a deal that endorsed open markets but acknowledged countries had a right to put up barriers to block unfair practices.

The summit’s final statement made clear that the other countries and the EU unanimously supported the Paris climate agreement rejected by Mr Trump. They called the deal to reduce greenhouse gases “irreversible” and vowed to implement it “swiftly” and without exception.

The other countries, from European powers such as Germany to emerging ones such as China and energy producers such as Saudi Arabia, merely “took note” of the US position, which was boxed off in a separate paragraph that the summit host, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, made clear applied only to the US.

She said the US position was “regrettable” but that the summit had achieved “good results in some areas”, and cited a hard-won agreement on trade that included Mr Trump and the US but did not erase the differences over the issue. She said the talks had been at times “difficult”.

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also threatened that his country would not ratify the Paris climate accord. “After that step taken by America, the position that we adopt is in the direction of not passing it in parliament,” Mr Erdogan said.

Mr Erdogan said Turkey was no longer a certain candidate and suggested other members of the “G19” also had doubts. He said he had clearly told French President Emmanuel Macron and Ms Merkel: “No offence, but we will not pass it in our parliament as long as the promises made to us are not delivered”.

He said former French president Francois Hollande had promised him that Turkey would be classed as a developing and not an industrialised economy — meaning Ankara would receive money from a global climate fund rather than have to pay into it.

On trade, the talks preserved the G20’s condemnation of protectionism, a statement that has been a hallmark of the group’s efforts to combat the global financial crisis and the aftereffects of the Great Recession.

The group added new elements, however: an acknowledgment that trade must be “reciprocal and mutually advantageous” and that countries could use “legitimate trade defence instruments” if they are being taken advantage of.

Pro-trade officials from the EU pointed out that the language in the G20 statement contains no departure from the current global system of regulation, which already allows countries to take defensive measures within the rules of the World Trade Organisation. Those can include import taxes that offset unfair practices such as government subsidies or belowcost pricing.

Despite the trade agreement, the summit was marked by clashing visions, especially where Washington and the EU were concerned. The EU demonstrated its willingness to move ahead with free trade despite Mr Trump by announcing a trade agreement with Japan on the eve of the summit.

On climate, summit deputies worked to hash out a three-part fudge that everyone could sign. That meant a first section with a broad pledge to fight climate change in general; a separate paragraph carved out that acknowledged the US did not support the Paris deal; and a third paragraph in which the other 19 members reaffirmed their support for the deal.

Advocates for efforts against global warming expressed relief that the other countries had remained unanimous in support of the Paris accords. “The US has obviously been clear about where it stands with the Paris Agreement, but it is heartening that 19 other countries reaffirmed their commitment to the agreement,” said Thoriq Ibrahim, minister of energy and environment for the Maldives and Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States, a group of countries vulnerable to the effects of global warming.

The results of the summit aren’t absolutely decisive, on either the trade or the climate issue. The no-protection pledge was often violated, increasingly in harder-to-detect ways such as tax breaks for home industries rather than obvious import taxes. Meanwhile, failure to agree on climate doesn’t stop countries from moving ahead in meeting the Paris agreement’s goals, or exceed them if they want to. Additionally, US states and private companies can pursue lower emissions on their own.

Other deals at the summit included an agreement to press internet providers to detect and remove extremist content as a way of fighting terrorist incitement and recruiting.

John Kirton, co-director of the G20 Research Group at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs, called the summit a “very solid success”. He pointed to broad agreement on the agenda, much of it focusing on less controversial issues such as women’s empowerment and promoting digitalisation.

Over the long term, the G20 implements 72% of its promises, and has implemented 80% of them since last year’s summit in Hangzhou, China, according to Mr Kirton.