Trump and Putin to meet at G20 summit
The two-day G20 Summit will begin in Hamburg today. Major issues on the docket for discussion are climate change and free trade, both topics on which US President Donald Trump and many foreign leaders in attendance diverge.
Even Russia and North Korea, countries that are dependent on exports of natural gas and coal, respectively, have signed the Paris Climate Agreement.
Putin and Trump will hold a much-anticipated first meeting later today. The US president is under significant domestic pressure to discuss Moscow’s interference in the 2016 election with Putin, but senior White House officials have stated that the conversation’s agenda will be focused on the Syrian civil war and the crisis in the Ukraine.
Law enforcement officials are concerned about protesters, over 100,000 of which are expected to congregate in Hamburg over the weekend. According to German authorities, about 8,000 protesters are prepared to use violence.
As such, over 20,000 police officers have been deployed to the country’s second largest city. Given the magnitude and outcome of some pre-summit protests, expect numerous protester-police clashes this weekend.
