U.S. stands apart as G20 summit stumbles
U.S. blocking progress on world trade and climate change
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA — The United States has been blocking progress at the Group of 20 summit on fixing world trade rules, fighting climate change and tackling migration, according to European officials involved in the discussions.
The divisions among the world’s leading economies were evident from the moment the Argentine president opened the summit Friday with a call for international co-operation to solve the planet’s problems.
President Donald Trump sought to use the summit to make his own trade deals. Meanwhile, two men under heavy criticism from the West lately — Russian President Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman — appeared to seek refuge in each other, bonding with a tough-guy hand grab as the leaders sat down around a huge roundtable for talks.
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 kilometres from the summit venue where a protest in the afternoon drew thousands of demonstrators who held up banners with slogans like “Go away G20” and “Go away Trump.”
Diplomats from the Group of 20 countries were haggling hard 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. Because of resistance from the Trump administration, 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.
The officials said the U.S. was also blocking any mention of migration in the final statement.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the closed-door discussions.
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.
Argentine Foreign Minister Jorge Faurie said trade talks were moving forward and nations were continuing to work on climate change wording.
“All issues being discussed at the summit have the same relevance,” he told reporters. “We are debating (trade and climate change) more closely because we want to reach the consensus of all the countries involved.”
Faurie said that the final communiqué does not require the signature of presidents.
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 UN climate summit.
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.”
The summit is meant to focus on issues such as labour, 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.
European Council President Donald Tusk urged G20 leaders to discuss “trade wars, the tragic situation in Syria and Yemen, and Russian aggression in Ukraine.” He said the European Union is expected to extend sanctions on Moscow over its “totally unacceptable” seizure of Ukrainian ships and their crews near the Crimean Peninsula.
“Europe is united in its support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Tusk said, calling the standoff “a cause of great concern.”
Also looming large: the gruesome slaying of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s Istanbul consulate and how the Saudi crown prince, who is alleged to have ordered the killing, is received by world leaders.
As soon as he arrived, the crown prince was confronted by French President Emmanuel Macron, who pressed him on the Khashoggi investigation and the Saudi-backed war in Yemen.