US is just one of the crowd in the international arena
America is the world’s lone superpower, but its ability to shape global events is limited, as last week’s summit of the 20 leading economies showed.
Indeed, President Donald J. Trump’s presence at the two-day meeting in Hamburg, Germany, served as a rallying point for the 19 other leaders on the ever-important issue of global warming.
Trump’s decision to withdraw the United States from the Paris climate agreement, which was entered into by former President Barack Obama, made him the odd man out.
In a final statement at the summit’s conclusion Saturday, the Group of 20 reaffirmed its commitment to the Paris accord.
The statement called the agreement to reduce greenhouse gases “irreversible” and vowed to implement it “swiftly” and without exception.
As a further sign of America’s isolation on this issue, leaders of the 19 countries, including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany, Prime Minister Jason Trudeau of Canada, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Theresa May of Britain merely “took note” of the U.S. withdrawal from the Paris accord.
The language was boxed off in a separate paragraph that the summit host, Merkel, made clear applied only to the U.S., the Associated Press reported.
Merkel said Trump’s decision to withdraw was “regrettable” but that the summit had achieved “good results in some areas.” In particular, there was agreement on the highly contentious issue of global trade.
During last year’s presidential election and in his first six months in office, Trump made it clear that America First would define his foreign and trade policies.
He has railed against this country’s trading partners, accusing them of unfair practices. And he talked about setting aside trade agreements with countries around the world. In particular, the president said he intends to renegotiate the North American Free Trade Agreement.
In addressing trade, G-20 leaders reiterated their opposition to protectionism. It’s a position that has long served as the cornerstone of the group’s effort to combat the international financial crisis and the aftereffects of the Great Recession.
However, Saturday’s statement did acknowledge Trump’s criticism of the unfair trade practices that have put America at a disadvantage.
The global leaders agreed that trade must be “reciprocal and mutually advantageous” and that countries could use “legitimate trade defense instruments” if advantage is being taken of them.
US FARES WELL ON TRADE
While the U.S. was on the losing end of the climate-change issue, it did fare relatively well with regard to global trade.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said there was “incredible consensus” on the issue and that the U.S. pushed to include the phrasing about “reciprocal” trade.
Trump has enjoyed bipartisan support for his position that trade must be fair as well as open and must benefit American companies and workers. He has pointed to the large surpluses enjoyed by other countries, which mean they sell more to U.S. consumers than they buy from American companies.
But while the G-20 summit participants acknowledged the need for reciprocal and mutually advantageous trade, there is a danger of trade wars if things get out of control.
Indeed, pro-trade officials from the European Union pointed out that the language in the G-20 statement contained a reiteration of the current global system of regulation, which allows countries to take defensive measures within the rule of the World Trade Organization.
Those can include import taxes that offset unfair practices, such as government subsidies or below-cost pricing.
But the Trump administration isn’t totally committed to the WTO. In March, there were reports that the White House was preparing to ignore any of the organization’s rulings that it sees as an affront to U.S. sovereignty, the Financial Times reported.
While the president stands firm on his decision to pull out of the Paris treaty and is unyielding on trade, administration officials are playing down tensions between the U.S. and other nations.
America has nothing to gain by a global trade war. The WTO was created to deal with rules of trade among nations. At its heart are the agreements, negotiated and signed by the bulk of the world’s trading nations and ratified by their governments.
The Trump administration should find a way of working within the parameters of the WTO, which has brought order to world trade.