G7 nations risk unprecedented deadlock on Saturday after US
President Donald Trump ditched the charm for snarls, resisting calls for
concerted action on hot-button issues such as climate change.
After starting his first presidential trip
abroad wreathed in smiles, Trump is ending 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, it 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 stepping
out of the G7 line.
"His basis for decision ultimately will be
what's best for the United States," top economic advisor Gary Cohn said
at the annual talks in Sicily.
Cohn was referring to whether Trump will execute his threat to walk away from the Paris accord on combatting climate change.
But his language also summarises the "America
First" platform that elevated the property tycoon to victory in last
year's presidential election.
Smoking volcano
That means the G7 is unlikely also to reprise
its oft-used terminology against protectionism, after Trump in Brussels
this week reportedly described the Germans as "bad, very bad" in their
trade practices.
The club of leading democracies also looks set
to fall short of last year's declaration on refugees and migration —
the sort of language that is anathema to a White House that wants to
impose a ban on travellers from six Muslim-majority countries.
It is a measure of the gulf that this year's
Italian hosts say they expect the final statement to come in at just six
pages when it is released on Saturday afternoon — 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 in a Manchester concert bombing in northwest England
this week.
The G7, urged on by Japan, will also adopt
common language against North Korea after a series of missile tests by
the nuclear-armed nation.
Friday's discussions in Sicily ended with a
classical music performance in the shadow of an ancient Greek theatre
and the smoking volcano of Mount Etna.
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