Summit stumbles on trade, climate
Divisions among the leading world economies emerged from the moment their leaders gathered Friday in Argentina: President Donald Trump struck his own deals and angered allies, and the leaders of Russia and Saudi Arabia bonded amid criticism from European powers.
U.S. negotiators blocked progress at the Group of Twenty summit on managing migration, slowing climate change and streamlining how world trade is governed, according to European officials involved in the discussions.
Security concerns also weighed on the two-day talks in Buenos Aires. Argentina’s security minister said eight gasoline bombs were discovered in an area of the capital several miles from the summit venue where a protest in the afternoon drew thousands of demonstrators who held up banners with slogans such as “Go away G20” and “Go away Trump.”
The whole point of the G20 — formed in the wake of the global financial crisis a decade ago — is finding ways to solve global problems together, but diplomats in Buenos Aires struggled to find enough things all the leaders agree on.
Argentine President Mauricio Macri kicked off the summit by acknowledging divisions within the G20 while urging world leaders to have a “sense of urgency” and take actions “based on shared interests.”
Diplomats from the Group of Twenty countries were haggling over a final summit statement, with deep divisions over what language to use on the Paris climate accord and the World Trade Organization.
Two European officials involved in the discussions said the U.S. was stymieing progress on both.
So an unorthodox solution emerged: An official in the French president’s office said the statement may have language that sets the U.S. apart. For example, a draft says 19 of the participants agree on the importance of upholding the Paris climate accord, but the U.S. doesn’t.
Asked about the European concerns, a U.S. official said progress was being made on the joint statement and the White House was “optimistic” about the document as a whole.
Later the Argentine official shepherding the G20 finance talks, treasury official Laura Jaitman, said Trump was “very active and committed” in the dialogue and said progress was made in Friday’s talks on finance and trade.
“There’s a very positive message of how trade has been an engine of growth for the next decades and how it will continue in the future providing benefits for all citizens,” Jaitman said.
Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie said trade talks were moving forward and nations were continuing to work on climate change wording.
Despite Trump’s dismissal of concerns about global warming, China, France and the United Nations came together Friday to pledge their support for the Paris climate accord. Their declaration was meant to encourage other G20 members to do the same, and to provide a boost for an upcoming U.N. climate summit.
Overall, the G20 summit is meant to focus on issues such as labor, infrastructure, development, financial stability, climate sustainability and international commerce.
But as the gathering got underway, those themes seemed like afterthoughts, overshadowed by contentious matters from the U.S.-China trade dispute to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Russia and Ukraine have traded blame over the weekend seizure of Ukrainian ships and their crew — which Trump cited in canceling a much-awaited meeting with Putin at the G20 summit. Russia’s foreign minister regretted the cancellation, but said “love can’t be forced.”
Although Trump canceled his meeting with Putin, the U.S. president was still scheduled to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. But analysts were not optimistic about prospects for a breakthrough on the two countries’ trade disputes a month before U.S. tariffs on Chinese goods are set to ramp up.