Hamburg: World powers lined up against US President Donald Trump on climate change on Saturday, reaffirming their support for international efforts to fight global warming.
The final statement of the Group of 20 summit in Hamburg, Germany, underlined that the other countries and the European Union supported the Paris climate agreement rejected by Mr Trump. They called the deal to reduce greenhouse gases “irreversible” and vowed to implement it quickly 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, dismissively “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 does include Mr Trump and the US.
On trade, difficult talks yielded the preservation of 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 defense instruments” if they are being taken advantage of.
That echoes concerns raised by Mr Trump, who was attending his first G20. He has said trade must be fair as well as open and must benefit American companies and workers.
On climate, summit deputies hashed 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. The results of the summit aren’t absolutely decisive, on either the trade or the climate issue.
