Frozen disputes at G20 summit

At the G20 summit, controversy is inevitable. Chancellor Merkel tried at a preliminary meeting with Donald Trump to find compromises. But differences remain.

Anyone who recognizes Merkel's facial expressions immediately realizes: this G20 meeting is also about her, that she's drawn up in countless international summits, a big challenge. The positions are far apart, especially those about climate change and trade policy. The US is giving up on them, and the consensus of 20 major industrialized countries and those with strong economic growth is over.

Merkel hoped the Hamburg summit would be the glorious crown of the German presidency of G20. Now the German delegation is taking small steps: Merkel is holding preliminary talks to find a common denominator and if this is becoming ever smaller.

Sam's Compromise

Unanimity in the G20 ranks belongs to history, since the United States has emerged from the Paris Climate Convention and protects a stock trade policy. These are the key issues of the G20 group, which signed its documents in the end with unanimity. So what does Merkel do to reach a compromise at the end?

In the evening, the Chancellor spoke about an hour with President Donald Trump, who had just arrived from a state visit to Warsaw, where the Polish had gladly received him. At the meeting at the Nobel Hotel of Hamburg <x0-Atlantic> ” they discussed nothing less than the summit's salvation, so it does not end with disagreements. They also spoke of hot foreign policy spots like North Korean missile tests, the situation in the Middle East, and the conflict in eastern Ukraine. In the end, both said nothing about the results.

19:1 for climate protection

The important thing is not to hide the differences, Merkel had said before the summit. Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel stressed prior to the forced meeting that we should not make as if we are all friends just to reach a declaration that would later result as the rinse “”.

All countries are in favour of the Paris climate agreement, except for the US. This process is the irreversible “”, said in the first draft of the final communiqué. So the deal won't be renegotiated again. The final document, therefore, can register as a fact US withdrawal from the climate agreement and also draft a very comprehensive commitment to climate protection, which Donald Trump may agree with. Such a divisive manifesto would be the first in G20 history.

Co-operation with American negotiators is constructive, says the meeting halls. The goal is to reach a <x0 juni-win” said Merkel after arriving in Hamburg, where this morning (07.07) begins the summit.

A very busy appointment

The problem is expected to be during the summit, and the first personal meeting between Trump and Russian President Putin is expected at a time when tensions between the two countries have reached a new peak. Russia is displaying a destabilising “ -- ” criticised Trump in Warsaw -- and sold to the Polish peoples to protect against the powerful American neighbour-type “Patrios”. Asking whether she would mediate Putin and Trump, Chancellor Merkel replied no. She said she only wants to contribute to solving problems and such on this summit is as much as you want. / DW