Japan Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, host of this week’s G20 summit in Osaka, urged the group to deliver a strong message on issues including promotion of free trade, innovation-driven global growth and rule-making for the digital economy. He also expressed optimism that US and China will resolve their conflicts on trade. Abe said in a news conference, “I expect that the United States and China will resolve their trade friction in a constructive manner through dialogue such as their bilateral meeting at G20”.
Separately, it’s reported that French President Emmanuel Macron would insist on mentioning Paris climate change accord in the communiques. An unnamed French official was quoted by Reuters, “as for myself, I have one red line. If we don’t talk about the Paris Agreement and if we don’t get an agreement on it amongst the 20 members in the room, we are no longer capable of defending our climate change goals, and France will not be part of this, it’s as simple as that.”
