At The G20, Heavy Topics On The Table

Published July 5, 2017 at 9:00 AM CDT

From left, Italian Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni, Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, France's President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the Netherland's Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg and European Council President Donald Tusk, address the media during a joint press conference after a pre-G20 meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Thursday, June 29, 2017. (Michael Sohn/AP)

With guest host Ray Suarez.

We look ahead to this week’s G20 summit in Germany. Global trade, climate change, security, and – maybe – the future of the West, all there.

Leaders of the 20 largest economies on earth meet periodically to talk about the problems facing a world where collectively, they set the tone, the tempo, and are forced to respond to the problems. In the post-Cold War world, the United States was expected to be a leader of the free market democracies. This hour, On Point: G20, Donald Trump, and international cooperation — are old friends looking at a world where America plays a reduced role? — Ray Suarez

Guests

Jeremy Cliffe, Berlin bureau chief for the Economist. ( @JeremyCliffe)

Stephen Sestanovich, senior fellow for Russian and Eurasian studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. Former U.S. ambassador-at-large for the former Soviet Union. ( @SSestanovich)

Adm. James Stavridis, former allied commander at NATO, where he oversaw operations in Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, the Balkans and piracy off the coast of Africa. Dean of the Fletcher School at Tufts University. author of “Sea Power: The History and Geopolitics of the World’s Oceans.” ( @stavridisj)

From The Reading List

Council on Foreign Relations: What to Know About the Hamburg G20 Summit — “The July 2017 summit in Hamburg, Germany, is the first for U.S. President Donald J. Trump, who has already clashed with many of the group’s members over trade, climate, and refugee policy. While the group’s meetings will be closely watched, bilateral meetings taking place on the summit’s sidelines are of particular interest this year, especially because Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin are scheduled to meet for the first time.”

The Guardian: Protesters plan to ‘kettle’ leaders at G20 summit in Hamburg — “Protesters plan to take advantage of the decision to hold this week’s G20 summit in a crowded inner-city area of Hamburg and copy police crowd control tactics to ‘kettle Trump, Putin and Erdoğan.’ Authorities in Germany’s second-largest city are preparing for the arrival of an unprecedented line-up of controversial world leaders, as well as protest groups eager to voice dissent on 7 and 8 July.”

The Hill: Trump, Merkel to meet in Germany before G-20 summit —

“Merkel said last week the summit will focus on pressing forward with the Paris climate accord despite Trump’s move to pull the U.S. out of the deal. Merkel last week told Germany’s Parliament she is prepared to have difficult talks with Trump at the G-20 summit about the Paris deal and climate change, The Washington Post reported.”