29 May, 2017
Nevertheless, in his address to North Atlantic Treaty Organisation leaders, Trump refused to reaffirm USA support for the organization's principle of mutual defense, and failed to address growing European concern over Russia's intentions in the region.
Where President Obama tried to encourage Iran to reform through the Iran nuclear agreement, President Trump sees a new alliance of Sunni Arab states and Israel, united against their common enemy Iran, as the key to curtailing terrorism and to a peace deal between Israel and the Palestinians.
But it also jibes with talk about Trudeau, who now has the third-most seniority at the G7 table despite this being only his second summit, having helped to find consensus between the leaders, including on the thorny issues of protectionism and the Paris Agreement.
"We knew he was not going to make a decision at the G7" on climate, the French official said.
The reaction was swift and critical.
"We will make an important declaration today here in Taormina on climate change, on great migrant flows, on free trade in the world on which so many jobs depend", said Italian prime minister Paolo Gentiloni. "But he stands in stark isolation".
There's just one problem: Trump was listening to the speech through an earpiece in his right ear, according to press secretary Sean Spicer.
Merkel on Saturday labeled the result of the "six against one" discussion "very hard, not to say very unsatisfactory".
Should Trump leave the pact, the USA would be the first country to exit, which would also be the second time that America has signed onto a global climate deal under a Democratic president only to walk away from the same agreement under a Republican predecessor, as President George W. Bush ultimately reneged on the Kyoto Protocol agreed to by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
The G-7 statement provides the United States more time to resolve internal White House debates about whether to pull out of the pact.
To the White House, Trump's first trip overseas was an embodiment of the promises he made as a candidate to put America's interests first and break through the guardrails that have long defined US foreign policy.
The White House has apparently told Pruitt to keep a lower public profile regarding the Paris Agreement until Trump announces his decision.
"Money is starting to pour in", Trump said, echoing a tweet earlier Saturday on the subject. "We had a good exchange on the difficulty of balancing climate change, responses to climate change and ensuring that you still have a thriving economy, you still offer people jobs so they can feed their families and have a prosperous economy".
He added: "We're all allies". "Do you want my cell phone so we can speak directly to each other?"
Backing out of the climate accord had been a central plank of Trump's campaign and aides have been exploring whether they can adjust the framework of the deal even if they don't opt out entirely.
"We hit a home run no matter where we are", he said. But the White House said Friday that Trump's view on the topic is "evolving" after hearing other views during the summit.
"Hundreds of US states, cities, and companies are also moving forward on climate action".
Donald Trump has told "confidants" that he plans to pull out of a major global climate change agreement.
Speaking broadly speaking about Trump's foreign trip, Cohn said the "the president was able to make some of the most wonderful deals that have been made by an administration ever".
The exit of the United States, the world's largest economy and second-largest greenhouse gas emitter after China, would not immediately dissolve the climate pact, which was legally ratified a year ago.
The complaint that other countries aren't doing enough to provide for their own defense is one that Trump frequently touted on the campaign trail.
Some climate diplomats say the rest of the world may be growing tired of the U.S. back-and-forth on climate change policy.
The incessant nature of the Russian Federation storyline kept Trump far away from the probing questions of reporters traveling with him on the foreign trip, with the President declining to hold a news conference, a highly unusual move for a president traveling overseas.
"At some juncture other countries are going to get sick of us joining in, pulling out, joining in and pulling out and say, 'Are we really going to work with the U.S. on this anymore?'" said Michael Oppenheimer, a professor of geosciences and worldwide affairs at Princeton and a member of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that produces scientific reports meant to inform global policymakers.
