G20 summit faces many disagreements

Today (November 30, local time), the G20 Summit officially opened in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Trade, migration and climate change are expected to be the central issues of debate among G20 member countries.

The US's determination to force China to "change course" as stated by Vice President Mike Pence at the recent 26th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in Papua New Guinea, while China continues to defend its trade policy, has raised public concerns about the impact on the success of the G20 Summit.

Therefore, the upcoming US-China summit on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Argentina is expected to find a solution to the current trade war. Many optimistic signals have appeared before the important event. The US is ready to reduce pressure on China if its demands for liberalizing the foreign investment environment in China, reducing the trade deficit as well as resolving the issue of intellectual property theft that this country accuses.

“I think we’re getting closer with China,” US President Donald Trump told reporters before boarding a plane to Argentina. “I think China wants to make a deal with the United States. We’re opening the door to China and frankly I’d like to make a deal with them.”

The Chinese side also expressed its hope for a reasonable outcome after the Buenos Aires summit. Chinese Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen hoped that the US and China could resolve trade disputes through mutual respect, mutual benefit and sincerity.

Mr. Wang Shouwen also called for: “Global trade is currently facing a complex situation, especially when unilateralism and protectionism are on the rise, creating a lot of uncertainty for the world economic development. In this context, we hope that at the 13th G20 Summit, member countries will show solidarity to resolve differences on trade as well as other important issues.”

Another event within the framework of this conference that also attracted public attention was the tensions between Russia and the West after the incident in the Sea of ​​Azov. US President Donald Trump officially announced the cancellation of the meeting with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, although Russia still affirmed that this was a necessary opportunity for both sides to resolve disagreements on a series of issues.

Along with that, US President Donald Trump's "indifference" to the issue of global warming also makes public opinion worry about the possibility that member economies can reach consensus on the final document of the conference.

An unnamed official said that after more than two days of almost continuous negotiations, there are still many disputes on related issues and so far the parties have only agreed on nearly two-thirds of the contents of the joint statement. Issues that are still open and have not reached consensus include trade, climate, migration, refugees and multilateralism. Although host country Argentina emphasized the importance of consensus at a multilateral forum like the G20, the division on global issues has raised doubts that the G20 leaders at this conference may not issue a joint statement./.