OSAKA, Japan — U.S. President Donald Trump is pressuring some of his fellow leaders to help weaken a G20 commitment on fighting climate change in a move that could kill chances of agreeing on a final leaders declaration.
Three senior officials told POLITICO that Trump is trying to enlist the leaders of Saudi Arabia, Brazil, Australia and Turkey in opposing commitments to stand by the Paris climate agreement made at previous G20 summits.
The U.S. has refused to back the part of the G20 declaration that supports the Paris accord since the G20 summit in Hamburg in 2017, but supported the final communique under an agree to disagree arrangement.
But this year, Trump is pushing allies to join him in opposition and French President Emmanuel Macron warned he would rather veto a final communiqué rather than allow the climate change section to be weakened further. Officials said negotiations would go on through the night and would likely be left for the leaders themselves to continue on Saturday.
The failure to secure agreement on a final communiqué would be a stinging defeat for the summit host, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe, who has sought to maintain consensus and a spirit of multilateralism.
“The President has spoken with many of those leaders that could be part of those that are lowering the ambition of the language on climate,” a senior Elysée official said. “He spRead More – Source
