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Reuters
TAORMINA
Leaders from the world's major industrialised nations failed to persuade US President Donald Trump to back a landmark climate deal at a G7 summit in Sicily on Friday after hours of talks that were described by Germany's leader as"controversial".
Meeting days after a suicide bomber killed 22 people at a concert in northern England, the leaders did issue a joint statement on fighting terrorism, admonishing internet service providers and social media companies to"substantially increase" their efforts to rein in extremist content.
Host Paolo Gentiloni, the prime minister of Italy, said the group was also inching closer to finding common language on trade, a contentious issue between Trump-elected on an"America First" platform ” and the six other leaders.
But on the issue of climate, there was no breakthrough.
"There is one open question, which is the US position on the Paris climate accords," Gentiloni told reporters, referring to a 2015 deal on reducing greenhouse gas emissions."All others have confirmed their total agreement on the accord."
US officials had signalled beforehand that Trump, who dismissed climate change as a"hoax" during his campaign, would not take a decision on the climate deal in Taormina, the cliff-top town overlooking the Mediterranean where G7 leaders met.
But other leaders, including German Chancellor Angela Merkel and new French President Emmanuel Macron, had hoped to sway the president at his first major international summit since entering the White House four months ago.
Merkel described the climate debate as"controversial". There was a"very intensive" exchange of views, she said.
Trump's economic adviser Gary Cohn said Trump's views on climate were"evolving" and that he would ultimately do what was best for the US.
The summit took place a day after Trump blasted NATO allies for spending too little on defence and described Germany's trade surplus as"very bad" in a meeting with EU officials.
His NATO speech shocked allies, who had been expecting him to reaffirm Washington's commitment to Article 5, the part of the military alliance's founding treaty which describes an attack on one member as an attack on all.
They were also disappointed that he did not touch on Russia, which was expelled from what was then called the G8 in 2014 because of its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine.
Accusations from US intelligence agencies that Russia intervened in the US. election to help Trump, and investigations into his campaign's contacts with Russian officials, have dogged his presidency and prevented him from delivering on a campaign promise to get close to Moscow.
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