Key points from the G20 summit of world leaders: Where they did and didn’t agree.
Leaders of the Group of 20 rich and developing countries spent two days trying to come up with common positions on climate change, trade and migration at their summit in Hamburg, Germany.
Implementation depends on the will of national governments to take action, and compliance isn’t perfect. But a common statement of purpose sets the tone for policy and enables peer pressure.
Here’s a look at what the leaders did — and didn’t — agree on:
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AGREED
— To support free trade and open markets, a key promise from earlier summits aimed at helping the global economy grow in the wake of the Great Recession.
— To acknowledge that countries can use “legitimate trade defense instruments” to protect their companies if trade partners are taking advantage of them.
— To fight terrorism by, among other things, pushing internet providers to detect and remove extremist content.
— To make a renewed push to reduce excess steel production capacity — primarily in China — that has led to low prices and pressure on other producers.
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COULDN’T AGREE
— To unanimously support the Paris agreement on climate change; a paragraph was agreed in which the summit participants “take note” of the U. S. decision to withdraw. It says the other leaders agree the Paris agreement is “irreversible.”
— To pursue United Nations sanctions such as asset freezes and travel bans against criminals smuggling people from Africa and the Middle East to Europe. A European Union push for such sanctions ran into opposition from several countries.
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