Trump still hasn't given allied leaders what they want

As the president arrives in Sicily, allies are still wondering how to bridge the gap with the new U.S. administration on climate, trade — and Russia.

SICILY — Despite a day of pitches from European leaders, President Donald Trump has yet to give them what they want — a commitment to the Paris climate accord ahead of the G7 summit.

Trump departed late Thursday from Brussels, where he met with his fellow NATO heads of state, and headed to Sicily, where he embarks Friday on his first meeting with leaders of the G7.

Trump’s national economic advisor Gary Cohn set the bar low for any strong commitments from the U.S. at the global summit, where Trump will meet with his Canadian, French, German, Italian, Japanese and British counterparts.

"The G7 is set up to be more of an ad-hoc session where the leaders get together and they listen and talk to each other,” Cohn told U.S. reporters on the way to Italy.

"The president has told you that he’s going to ultimately make a decision on Paris and climate when he gets back,” Cohn added. "He’s interested to hear what the G7 leaders have to say about climate. It will be a fairly robust discussion on that.”

That position is a departure from standard practice for international summits, at which policy commitments are typically agreed in advance.

Diplomats from other nations said their top priority was keeping Trump in the Paris accord, a 2015 agreement intended to limit global warming.

Trump has argued that the regulations imposed hamper domestic economic growth but has said he would consider some pollution limits.

"This time there's going to be a substantive negotiation that can last late into the night Friday into Saturday on a final communiqué,” warned a French official. “We want the most ambitious agreement possible, and we don't want the United States to leave.”

While the EU leaders described the meeting as “cordial” and “friendly,” it was clear that the new and unpredictable American president had not offered reassurances on some core areas of concern for Brussels.

European Council President Donald Tusk said they had found common ground on fighting terrorism, and appeared to be “on the same line” about the conflict in Ukraine. But Tusk said there were unresolved questions on trade and climate change – two topics that will be addressed at the G7 summit.

"Some issues remained open like climate and trade,” EU Council President Donald Tusk told reporters shortly after a meeting at EU headquarters in Brussels on Thursday morning.

He reserved his most pointed remarks for the U.S. position on Russia though. “I am not sure that we can say 100 percent today that we have a common position, common opinion about Russia,” Tusk said.

Sanctions on Russia were also raised at the NATO summit, but Trump has not taken a position either way. "I think the president is looking at it. Right now, we don’t have a position," Cohn said.

There is one point Trump has been clear on -- the fight against terrorism. Trump will continue his discussion from the middle east portion of his trip about raising funding to fight terrorism. His goal is to get the G7 and them G20 involved. Cyber security will also be a major topic.

"Terrorism is going to be a very big topic," Cohn said. "It’s going to lead off."

He suggested that Trump may give more clues on his trade policy on Friday in Sicily.

"We are going to continue to fight for what we believe is right, which is free, open and fair trade, which the president has been very clear on what that means,” he said.

"We will have a very robust discussion on trade and we will be talking about what the president means by free and open is, we will treat you the way you treat us, meaning if you don’t have barriers to trade or you don’t have tariffs, we won’t have tariffs.”



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