At the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, US President-elect Donald Trump was the man who cannot be named.
The leaders avoided directly mentioning Trump, even as his upcoming return to power made the discussions.
Instead, they used code names like “next administration,” “turbulence,” and “change” to avoid provoking the man who will take office on January 20.
The summit saw leaders working to rush a global response to climate change ahead of Trump’s return, considering his plans to roll back US climate policies and reportedly withdraw from the Paris Agreement, Reuters reported.
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French President Emmanuel Macron, who made considerable efforts to win over Trump during his first term, made veiled comments at the summit about tariffs and climate.
“Any fragmentation or fracturing of the international order by tariff policies which are carried out by the strongest simply leads all others not to respect it,” Macron said, refraining from naming Trump.
Notably, Trump has planned to impose sweeping tariffs on imports into the United States, including on goods from Europe and as much as 60 per cent on goods from China.
Macron also referred to “fragile” climate policies, with Trump warning to take the United States back out of the Paris accords that are aimed at reducing global warming.
The Voldemort of the summit
It was the same whenever leaders spoke, as they seemingly treated Trump like the villain Voldemort in the Harry Potter films and books, whose name the heroes cannot mention.
UN chief Antonio Guterres swerved any head-on mention of Trump when he talked of the “very important” US role on climate and how he was “deeply confident” that America would “move in the direction of climate action.”
The only places Trump’s face could be seen were on placards held by protesters outside the summit venue – and on the social media feed of Argentina’s right-wing, Trump-supporting president.
Javier Milei reposted a meme contrasting a photo of himself meeting the smiling Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort after the election, with another of Milei beside a grim-faced Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva.
Behind the scenes, officials were careful.
One European diplomat said that the continent had “worked with him before” and would do so again.
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‘My predecessor’ to successor
US officials insisted time and again that Trump’s name did not come up in outgoing President Joe Biden’s final meetings with his counterparts, or even that it was a major consideration.
“I don’t think we are expecting some major reorientation of how other countries look at the world or look at their relationship with us,” Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer told reporters.
“They will make those decisions for themselves based on their interests, in January.”
Perhaps it was partly out of deference to Biden, making his swan song on the international stage.
Biden himself skirted around the issue – in fact, he has long resisted mentioning the name of the man he often calls “my predecessor,” who is now his successor.
The 81-year-old Biden tried to shore up his legacy while his fellow summiteers looked over his shoulder.
As Biden remarked that it was his final summit, he called for leaders to “keep going – and I’m sure you will, regardless of my urging or not.”
On the final day, Biden seemed to realise that the return of he-who-cannot-be named was nigh.
“I have much more to say,” Biden said, before stopping himself and adding: “I’m not going to.”
G20 leaders’ joint statement
G20 nations, responsible for 85% of the global economy and over three-quarters of climate-warming emissions, have a crucial role to play in tackling global warming.
At the closing session of the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva urged member countries to advance their climate neutrality targets to 2040 or 2045, instead of the 2050 timeline pledged by Brazil and others.
On Monday, Lula secured approval for the G20 leaders’ joint statement addressing climate change. However, some European countries were irked since they wanted a stronger language on the Ukraine-Russia war.
The statement called for “rapidly and substantially increasing climate finance from billions to trillions from all sources” to combat global warming.
It also urged negotiators at the COP29 climate summit in Azerbaijan to finalise a financial framework, resolving the controversial issue of how much wealthy nations should contribute to developing countries for climate action.
US President Joe Biden addressed the G20 gathering and said that the developing countries need to have “enough firepower and access to capital” to fight climate change and safeguard themselves from its impacts. That money needed to flow into their economies and give breathing room to debt-laden countries, he said.
“History is watching us,” Biden said. “I urge us to keep the faith and keep going. This is the single greatest existential threat to humanity.”
With inputs from AFP