TAORMINA, Italy, May 27, (APP/AFP) – G7 leaders
on Saturday wrapped up their annual summit with an unprecedented display of division over climate change as US President Donald Trump rebuffed pressure to toe the collective line in the club of powerful democracies.
Trump tweeted that he would reveal his hand only next week as to
whether he will keep the United States in the Paris accord, a global pact on curbing carbon emissions that he vowed to jettison when campaigning for the White House.
The Group of Seven leading economies, in an extraordinary summit
statement, acknowledged that six members were committed to upholding the 2015 accord while the United States stood apart.
“The United States of America is in the process of reviewing its
policies on climate change and on the Paris Agreement and thus is not in a position to join the consensus on these topics,” the statement said in highly-unusual language.
Despite the discord, Trump concluded his first overseas trip on a
typically bullish note, telling US service families at the Sigonella base in Sicily he had “hit a home run” shortly before taking off to fly back home.
Condemning this week’s deadly terror attacks in Manchester and Egypt,
Trump said such atrocities “steel our resolve”.
“Together civilised nations will crush the terrorists, block their
funding, strip them of their territory and drive them out of this earth,” he said.
A short time later, scuffles broke out among protesters near the
ancient hilltop town of Taormina where the summit had taken place under high security.