Top leaders agree to repair system
Leaders of the top economies agreed in Buenos Aires to repair the global trading system as they closed a Group of 20 summit that saw the United States’ Trump Administration at odds with many allies over the Paris accord on climate change and issues like migration.
The joint statement signed by all 20 member nations said 19 of them reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris climate accord, with the US, which withdrew from the pact under President Donald Trump, the lone holdout. The official communique acknowledged flaws in global commerce and called for reforming the World Trade Organisation, but it didn’t say the word “protectionism” after negotiators said that had met resistance from the US.
Applause broke out as the leaders, including Trump, signed off on the statement at the end of the two-day summit in the Argentine capital, the first time it has been held in South America.
The non-binding agreement was reached after marathon talks by diplomats stretched overnight and into daylight, amid deep divisions between member nations. European Union officials said the US was the main holdout on nearly every issue. Trump has criticised the WTO and taken aggressive trade policies targeting China and the EU.
But China also pushed back in talks on steel, South Africa objected to language on trade, Australia didn’t want the statement to be too soft on migration and Turkey worried it would push too far on climate change, according to the officials.
One said the unusual language on climate was needed for Washington to sign on, and Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Russia had seemed sympathetic to the US position but ultimately stayed with the other countries.
The statement’s final language says, regarding climate, that 19 signatories to the Paris accord reiterate their commitment to it while the US reiterates its decision to withdraw. It also notes a recent United Nations report that warned damage from global warming will be much worse than previously feared, and expresses support for a UN climate meeting in Poland meant to nail down how countries will meet promises made in the Paris accord.
On global commerce, the accord says the 20 countries support multilateral trade but acknowledge the current system doesn’t work and needs fixing, via “the necessary reform of the WTO to improve its functioning”.
On migration, European officials said the US negotiator said too much talk about it would have been a “deal-breaker” for Trump. So they came up with “minimalist” language that acknowledges growing migrant flows and the importance of shared efforts to support refugees and solve the problems that drive them to flee.
The statement also shows a commitment to a “rules-based international order”, despite Trump’s rejection of many of those rules.