Leaders from
the world's top economies meet to forge a consensus on trade and climate change
on Saturday after setting their staff to work through the night to find
agreements that eluded them on the first day of their summit.
Germany's
Angela Merkel treated the leaders to a concert at Hamburg's Elbphilharmonie on
Friday night, where they listened to Beethoven while their aides began an all
night slog aimed bridging differences with the administration of U.S. President
Donald Trump.
Chancellor
Merkel, for whom the summit is an opportunity to show off her diplomatic skills
ahead of a federal election in September, welcomed the first face-to-face
meeting of Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday.
Their
encounter, which began with a handshake and lasted over two hours, was one of
the most eagerly anticipated meetings between two leaders in years.
The two
discussed alleged Russian meddling in the U.S. election but agreed to focus on
future ties rather than dwell on the past, a result that was sharply criticized
by leading Democrats in Congress.
G20 leaders
had a tough time reaching consensus on climate and trade policy despite a plea
from Merkel to other leaders to compromise in talks that have pitted Trump
against virtually every other country in the club of leading economies.
"The
sherpas have a lot of work ahead of them tonight," she said, referring to
the trade dossier. "I hope they can bring us a good result tonight. But
here the discussions are very difficult, I don't want to talk around
that."
As well as
resolving the differences over trade and climate change, Merkel must lead
discussions on migration on Saturday - issues that have become more contentious
since Trump entered the White House half a year ago promising an "America
First" approach.
Last month,
he pulled the United States out of a landmark international agreement aimed at
combating climate change. And he is threatening to take punitive trade measures
in the steel sector which would hit China, Germany, Canada and a host of other
countries.
CLIMATE
CONUNDRUM
Envoys have
been working for weeks to bridge differences, and European sources said they
came up with new language on the climate issue on Thursday which would be put
to the leaders for approval.
The latest
draft communique sticks with language about the Paris climate accord being
"irreversible" but removes a reference from an earlier version to a
"global approach" that some countries felt could suggest there was a
parallel track to Paris.
It also
includes a new paragraph which says the United States will "work closely
with other partners to help their access to and use of fossil fuels more
cleanly and efficiently". Some experts were skeptical whether leaders
would approve the reference to fossil fuels, which would be a clear nod to
Washington.
As the
leaders met on Friday, police said they were sending reinforcements from other
parts of Germany to cope with thousands of anti-capitalist protesters who set
fire to cars, rubbish bins and wooden pallets in violence that Hamburg's
interior minister called "frightening".
Merkel chose
Hamburg, the port city where she was born, to send a signal about Germany's
openness to the world, including its tolerance of peaceful protests.
The summit
is being held only a few hundred meters from one of Germany's most potent
symbols of left-wing resistance, a former theater called the "Rote
Flora" which was taken over by anti-capitalist squatters nearly three
decades ago.
Police said
196 officers had been injured, 83 protestors temporarily detained and another
19 taken into custody.
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