Daily Times

Around 30 world leaders met at the G20 Summit in Buenos Aires in Argentina on 30 November to 1 December to discuss matters of global importance. The G20 is made up of the world’s nineteen biggest economies and the European Union. The group accounts for 85 percent of the world’s GDP and two-thirds of its population. Trade war between the United States and China, the Ukraine tussle with Russia, and the killing of a journalist allegedly by Saudi Arabia were the important issues discussed at the meeting.

The pre-summit activities began with two-track meetings of finance deputies. Anti-corruption, education, employment, climate sustainability, and energy transition were on the agenda as well as major finance-related issues that were tackled at the summit later. Many countries have signed bilateral agreements to enhance cooperation.

Trump and the Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, discussed the North Korean missile and nuclear issue as well as the US-Japanese cooperation and the Indo-Pacific issue.. Putin and Xi also agreed to attend a meeting of the Belt and Road Initiative, in late April 2019.

Trump decided to cancel a planned meeting with Putin on account of the Ukraine affair with Russia. This was the kind of pressure the United States exerted against Russia. The meeting at Buenos Aires has already received a setback in the form of America-Russia ties. Russia is an important member of the G20. Vladimir Putin, however, could not get a chance to meet US President Donald Trump on account of tensions between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Russia seized two ships from Ukraine in the waters around Crimean Peninsula. Shortly after departing for Buenos Aires President Trump denied any meeting with President Putin.

Amid trade tensions between the United States and China, the G20 Summit was convened. Besides Ukraine, issues of trade and climate change affected the Summit. The Jamal Khashoggi affair was also highlighted, the journalist was killed in Istanbul in October. The British Prime Minister Theresa May wanted to have a transparent investigation conducted to uncover the Khashoggi affair, reported a Saudi newspaper columnist. Western nations wanted discuss oil imports from Saudi Arabia. Along with the trouble with Iran, it won’t do any good to create trouble with Saudi Arabia — the most important oil importer to the United States. Thus, it looks like the Khashoggi affair will be thrown in the backdrop. However, the development of ties between Saudi Arabia and Russia is an important event here.

A war on tariffs has been going on between the two trading partners. The United States came with a tariff of US$ 250 billion while China with US$ 110 billion. Therefore, it is likely that a trade tariff could be the driving force behind the negotiations at G20. There is likely to be deal according to the many experts. A trade war between the United States and China will likely affect the G20 Summit. After the trade war was launched, this is going to be first meeting between Trump and Xi, since the beginning of 2018.

Trump agreed to hold off on plans to raise tariffs on January 1, on US$ 200 billion on Chinese goods. Xi agreed to buy a “not yet agreed upon, but very substantial amounts of agricultural, energy, industrial” and other products from the United States to reduce America’s huge trade deficit with China

Trump agreed to hold off on plans to raise tariffs on January 1 on US$ 200 billion on Chinese goods. Xi agreed to buy a “not yet agreed upon, but very substantial amounts of agricultural, energy, industrial” and other products from the United States to reduce America’s huge trade deficit with China. This was done to defuse a trade war, at least temporarily.

The analysts say that President Trump has been isolating himself from Russia and China on major and minor issues. Again, the meeting provided an opportunity for a joint communique but with the absence of the United States. There were more differences than on consensus at the meeting. Also, America’s behaviour angered Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Moreover, G-8 Summit decided to endorse a multilateral trade system and reforms in the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

The writer is a consultant with the Institute of Strategic Studies. He writes on East Asian affairs

Published in Daily Times, December 9^th 2018.