Hamburg G20 summit: what’s changed since last year’s gathering
This year’s meeting of world leaders takes place against a different global political and economic landscape than the one in Hangzhou, China in 2016, with increased geopolitical tensions and some new faces among the attendees
When world leaders meet in northern German city of Hamburg for the two-day G20 summit from Friday, they will confront a very different global economic landscape than the one in which last year’s meeting in the Chinese city of Hangzhou took place. Here is a brief rundown of what has changed.
Trump vs the rest
If the Hangzhou summit was meant to reaffirm a determination to pursue an international economic order capable of delivering inclusive growth in face of a slowdown, then Hamburg may see protectionism pitted against globalisation, or more likely, US President Donald Trump and his “America First” policies against the rest of world.
Trump shocked the world by withdrawing the US from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal as well as the Paris climate agreement, two legacies of his predecessor Barack Obama. The former US president had formally ratified the Paris deal with Chinese President Xi Jinping in the lead-up to the Hangzhou summit.
It remains unclear how the issues will be pursued in Hamburg, but leaders in Europe have warned that the climate agreement is not negotiable, leaving little room for Trump to manoeuvre.
A wide gap on climate emerged in late May when leaders of the Group of Seven wealthy nations said they had failed to convince Trump to endorse the climate accord in their final communique. The Hamburg summit will be a test of just how big that gap has become.