G7 leaders agree to fight protectionism, but U.S. hedges on Paris Agreement
TAORMINA, Italy — Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made his major debut on the international stage at a UN global warming conference in Paris, where the new Liberal government, crowing cheerfully that Canada was back, helped to seal a major climate deal.
Going on two years later, the Canadian prime minister is calling the G7 summit in Taormina, Italy a success, even as U.S. President Donald Trump refused to join the other leaders on committing to implementing that Paris Agreement.
“The fact that Canada recognizes how important it is to move forward on both growing the economy and protecting the environment at the same time is something that resonated around the table,” Trudeau said Saturday.
“Obviously, any new administration or any new government is going to have its own approach or its own priorities,” he said. “I think the value of the G7 is that we do get to have honest and robust exchanges, talk about where we’re going and how we’re going to get there together.”