Leaders Try to Salvage Global Order Post-Trump at Virtual G-20
Published Date: 11/23/2020
Source: Bloomberg Quicktake: Now
The final months of every year mark what is known as “summit season.” Leaders hop from one acronym-rich meeting to another, from APEC to Asean to the G-20. The meetings tend to produce fairly bland communiques and awkward group photos. But they fill a need. They get leaders in one place, to meet both one-on-one and in bigger groups. The sideline chats are where the real action often happens, especially on the big geopolitical hot spots. This year has been unusual. The pandemic nixed some summits entirely. Others got turned into shorter virtual affairs with leaders on a giant Zoom call straddling multiple time zones. Speeches were pre-recorded and the chance for real discussion and debate nonexistent. That’s even as economies suffer from the virus, poverty and debt rise, and the climate change imperative remains. So the results from summit season were uninspiring. While most leaders aside from U.S. President Donald Trump spoke of the need to share vaccines and speed up distribution to all countries, progress remains slow and nations will always prioritize inoculating their people first. Even so, the meetings highlighted a dogged insistence that the multilateral system – the global rules that have defined the postwar order – remains valid. That’s especially the case as Trump, who spent four years frequently criticizing that system, leaves office and is replaced by Democrat Joe Biden. Leaders also hope a more engaged America will provide a buffer against China, which stepped in during the Trump years as a self-proclaimed champion of globalization. To start, Biden can do more to demand China turn its claim to be the defender of multilateralism into action. Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2TwO8Gm Bloomberg Quicktake brings you live global news and original shows spanning business, technology, politics and culture. Make sense of the stories changing your business and your world. To watch complete coverage on Bloomberg Quicktake 24/7, visit http://www.bloomberg.com/qt/live, or watch on Apple TV, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, Fire TV and Android TV on the Bloomberg app. Connect with us on… YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/Bloomberg Breaking News on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/BloombergQuickTakeNews Twitter: https://twitter.com/quicktake Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/quicktake Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/quicktake