The Group of 20 Summit in Rome last weekend was highly unusual. Unlike most global gabfests, it actually mattered—not because the sterile G-20 format and the anodyne communiqués it predictably generated meant or accomplished anything of significance. It mattered because the U.S. and the European Union, sidestepping the G-20 process, unveiled a tentative trade agreement that significantly sharpens the competition with China and because five G-20 heads of government (China, Japan, Mexico, Russia, and South Africa) were absent, highlighting the declining importance of these ritualized displays of international comity.
OP-ED
Walter Russell Mead: The US and EU shake up global trade
A general view of the G20 Summit venue in Rome on Oct. 31, 2021.
