Smile: The family photo of G20 leaders is a tradition which sees the longest-serving leaders get closer to the center, with the country hosting the summit having its head of government in the center. That put Trump second from left, beside Emmanuel Macron, the newly-elected French president and Joko Widodo, the president of Indonesia
Akio Fujii, Nikkei Asian Review: International cooperation without US has its limitations
Trump aloof at G-20 summit while free trade under threat
HAMBURG - United States President Donald Trump left midway through a Saturday morning meeting at the weekend's Group of 20 summit, leaving eldest daughter Ivanka in his stead between British Prime Minister Theresa May and Chinese President Xi Jinping. Those present must have hardly believed what they were seeing.
Trump also skipped discussions on climate change on Friday afternoon for a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, which lasted more than two hours. At the Hamburg summit, world leaders once again had to accommodate themselves to Trump's unconventional behavior, just as they had at the Taormina Group of Seven summit in May.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who chaired the Hamburg G-20 gathering, took great pains to reconcile two conflicting principles -- Trump's "America First" prerogatives and multilateral international cooperation - but it was the clash of these principles that overshadowed successes elsewhere at the summit.
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WNU Editor: Agreements between nation states will continue and international arrangements will be made .... as they are now. It is not the first time that the U.S. is following a vision and direction that is different from the rest of the world .... and it will not be the last.
