To paraphrase a famous Spice Girls song, 20 becomes 19…
As the G20 Summit continues on, the biggest take-away from the entire endeavour is Trump’s standing in the entire thing.
Or lack of standing, like when he apparently let his daughter Ivanka sit in on some of the more important talks, despite, y’know, not being the President and stuff.
And now the leaders present at the summit have left Hamburg with what German leader Angela Merkel described as “19 against 1” on the matter of climate protection.
A little over a month ago, Trump decided to pull America out of the Paris Climate Change Agreement, flying in the face of the 195 other countries that had agreed to it.
Now Trump has doubled-down on this decision, with reports that he refused to agree with the leaders of over two-thirds of the world’s population at the G20 Summit by stating that pushing for lower carbon dioxide emissions would probably undermine economic growth and energy security in the US.
UK leader Teresa May said in a press conference following the end of the summit that “Like other leaders, I am dismayed by the US withdrawing from the Paris agreement”, but Trump had agreed to a communication which stated that the US will aid in the “use of fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently” in other countries.
French President Emmanuel Macron also commented on Trump’s decision, hoping that he can eventually help change his mind: “I never despair to convince, because I think it is a duty, given my position, and it is a trait of my character.”
By the end of the summit, 19 of the 20 countries had come to an agreement on the joint declaration, and for the first time, a separate paragraph was added to include the US’s current stance on the Paris climate agreement and fossil fuels.
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