G7 nations on Saturday hit deadlock over climate change and strived to finesse divisions over trade, as US President Donald Trump rebuffed pressure to toe the collective line in the club of powerful democracies. Trump tweeted that he would reveal his hand only next week as to whether he will keep the United States in the Paris accord, a global pact on curbing carbon emissions that he vowed to jettison when campaigning for the White House.
The Group of Seven leading economies, in an extraordinary summit statement, acknowledged that six members were committed to upholding the 2015 accord while the United States stood apart. "The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics," the statement said in highly unusual language.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also crossed swords with Trump on free trade at the G7, complained that the US president was keeping his colleagues in the dark. "The whole discussion on the topic of climate was very difficult, not to say very unsatisfactory," she told reporters, labelling the G7 deadlock as "six against one". On trade, the G7 vowed "to keep our markets open and to fight protectionism", but also to combat "unfair trade practices" and help those left behind by globalisation, after Trump came to power vowing "America First".
On other fronts, the G7:
-- Noted that the global economy remains patchy with downside risks, pledging "to use all policy tools" to sustain growth
-- Threatened stronger sanctions against Russia over its annexation of Crimea if Moscow''s actions warrant it
-- Condemned nuclear-armed North Korea''s recent missile tests and said they were ready to take new measures as necessary after various rounds of UN sanctions
-- Demanded support from Russia and Iran for a peace process in Syria, and similarly called for an inclusive dialogue in Libya. After starting his first presidential trip abroad wreathed in smiles, Trump ended it with rebukes, upbraiding America''s European partners over military spending, trade and global warming. An enduring motif of the G7, which represents the lion''s share of global economic output, has been to champion free trade. At last year''s summit in Japan, leaders issued a lengthy communique in support of resisting protectionism, as well as helping refugees and fighting climate change.
But that was then, when Barack Obama still occupied the White House. Today, his successor is defiant about defying the G7 line after accusing China, Germany and others of cheating in international trade.
Trump reportedly described the Germans as "bad, very bad" in their trade practices while visiting Brussels this past week. "We had very hard deliberations and discussions about trade but we found a reasonable solution," Merkel said, stressing the G7 statement''s commitment to open maAFP The G7 leaders began the concluding day of their annual summit with discussions with leaders from Ethiopia, Kenya, Niger, Nigeria and Tunisia. The five African states are key players in the Mediterranean migration crisis, as countries of origin or transit for hundreds of thousands of migrants attempting to reach Europe via perilous sea crossings.
The G7''s Italian presidency held this year''s summit on an ancient hilltop resort in Sicily to underline the proximity of the crisis. But even that prompted discord among participants as Trump, according to Italian sources and activists, resisted the hosts'' desire to issue a declaration underlining the benefits as well as pitfalls of migration.
That sort of language is anathema to a White House that wants to impose a ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries. The G7 statement recognised the human rights of migrants and refugees. But with Trump promising to build a "beautiful" wall on the US-Mexico border, it also said "we reaffirm the sovereign rights of states, individually and collectively, to control their own borders".
In a telling sign of the divisions now plaguing the G7, this year''s statement came in at a meagre six pages - down from 32 pages last year. The summit did find common ground on Friday in endorsing a British call urging internet service providers and social media companies to crack down on jihadist content online after 22 people were killed by a suicide bomber in the north-western English city of Manchester this week. But while Trump did battle on an array of summit fronts, he also found himself dogged in Europe by new allegations as investigations proceed in Washington into whether Russian meddling helped his election victory last year. The Washington Post reported that Trump''s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, made a pre-inauguration proposal to the Russian ambassador to set up a secret, bug-proof communications line with the Kremlin. There was no immediate comment from the White House, but Trump has angrily rejected allegations of such collusion.
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