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TRUMP:

NICHOLAS

KAMM/AFP/GETTY

IMAGES.

LEADERS:

KIM

KYUNG-HOON/BLOOMBERG

slightfromPrimeMinisterJustinTrudeau.Despite

their valiant effort, the Sherpas at this year’s G-20

failed to craft language that all of the assembled lead-

ers could agree to and had to insert a special section

for the U.S. position on climate change.

If the era of agreement is over, what will the

future look like? French President Emmanuel

Macron has been grappling with that question as

his country prepares to host the G-7 in Biarritz. “I

have battled at the G-20 and ended up at 19,” he said

at the end of the G-20, “and I have battled at the G-7

to be all seven together and then have the U.S. pull

out.” Desperate to avoid a repeat of the summit in

Canada, Macron promised to “innovate,” floating the

idea of a series of mini-communiqués on individual

issues such as climate change, signed only by those

leaders who agree with one another. “We need to

have a reflection on our formats,” he said. “Accept

that on some subjects, there’s a member of the club

who may not sign. We cannot do miracles.”

These are hardlyabstract concerns. While

Macron and others have framed their search for

solutions in terms of improved protocol, disagree-

ments that begin at international meetings have a

way of rippling into far less rarefied circles, and vice

versa. Trump’s pique at Trudeau concerned the lat-

ter’s attempt to retaliate against tariffs the U.S. had

applied to Canadian steel and aluminum weeks

before. The Iran nuclear deal and the Paris climate

accord were both reached through carefully orches-

trated international discussions—and they were both

shredded single-handedly by Trump.

Yet even on the question of how to achieve

unity, there’s disagreement. According to a

high-ranking German official, Chancellor Angela

Merkel also left the Osaka G-20 summit frustrated

that once again Trump had hijacked a major gath-

ering of world leaders. In her view, these events

were turning into opportunities for the U.S. pres-

ident to put on a show and boost his ego. But

POLITICS BloombergBusinessweek August26, 2019

e Art of No Deal

 World leaders pose

for a G-20 family photo

in Osaka on June 28