CLIMATE CHANGE/G20/TRADE DEALS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Donald Trump has issues. And the team of G-20 ‘sherpas’ negotiating the joint statement to sum up the annual leaders’ summit were more than happy to take note of them if it meant the explosive American president wouldn’t blow up their work. One of Trump’s issues is the multilateral trading system that most other G-20 leaders cherish, but that he believes has long allowed other countries to take advantage of the United States. So at around 5 a.m. on Saturday [12-1-18] morning, after nearly a week of intense negotiations, the sherpas wrote an awkward line into the fourth paragraph of their draft communique: ‘We also note current trade issues.’ Trump also has issues with the Paris climate change accords. But rather than argue the point, 19 of the G-20 leaders used the document to reaffirm their commitment to fight global warming, and a separate paragraph was written laying out Trump’s singular opposition.”
–David Herszenhorn, Andrew Restuccia and Hans der Burchard, “The world makes room for Trump,” Politico, December 1, 2018 7:32 pm