The leaders of the G7 nations were to meet in southern France yesterday, with the burning Amazon, diving stock markets and their own stark divisions giving little grounds for optimism.
US President Donald Trump and fellow Western leaders were also to face protests as they arrived in the famed surfing town of Biarritz — although a heavy police presence was to keep them far from view.
Thousands were to march about 30km down the coast from Biarritz to denounce the leaders over poverty and environmental damage.
Photo: AFP
The summit was already shaping up to be a difficult encounter with relations badly strained by Trump, but images of billowing smoke above the Amazon rainforest have lent it a new, even darker mood.
“The Amazon is burning and it’s something that concerns everyone,” Macron said on Friday in an interview with the Konbini Web site.
He has called for emergency talks at the G7, which lasts until tomorrow, aiming for “concrete measures” to tackle the crisis.
“We are going to try and mobilize everyone to raise funding for reforestation as quickly as possible,” Macron said.
Talks in the beach resort will also be dominated by darkening clouds over the world economy.
Wall Street stocks tanked on Friday after Trump escalated his trade dispute with China.
“We see trade tensions as the single most important threat to global growth,” a top EU official told reporters on condition of anonymity.
Trump continues to threaten European companies with trade tariffs, including Germany’s auto industry and France’s wine sector.
Last month, he promised “substantial reciprocal action” after French lawmakers backed a law imposing a sales taxes on US digital giants such as Google and Facebook.
“The president will raise the highly discriminatory digital services tax that France has decided upon,” a US official said ahead of the summit that is to see Trump and Macron hold talks.
The meeting will also be the full international debut of British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is to meet Trump for the first time as leader.
“My message to G7 leaders this week is this: The Britain I lead will be an international, outward-looking, self-confident nation,” he said on the eve of the summit.
Although Johnson needs Trump’s support for a free-trade deal, he is at odds with him on a range of issues, including the Iran nuclear crisis, climate change and global trade.
Trump is to find himself under pressure from Europeans, particularly Macron, to ease off on his policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran over its nuclear program.
Macron wants him to “pause” sanctions, an aide said, which would enable talks to take place to try to find a new diplomatic solution.
Iranian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif on Friday said that Macron’s “suggestions” to find a way out of the impasse were “moving in the right direction.”
Yesterday, Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Major General Hossein Salami said that Iran had test fired a new missile.
A total of 13,000 French security forces were on duty around Biarritz to guard against violence, with authorities wary about “yellow vest” protesters and anarchists.
On Friday evening, 17 people were arrested and four police officers were injured in the first clashes in the village of Urrugne near a camp of anti-G7 activists, local authorities said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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