Representatives from the Group of Seven countries agreed on Saturday to fight against trade protectionism and maintain sanctions against Russia regarding the Minsk Protocol.
All participants of the summit supported the language of the final G7 communique, which included a pledge to fight protectionism and commit to a rules-based international trade system. In addition, the six-page document revealed an agreement among leaders to impose additional sanctions against Russia, if warranted, for its intervention in Ukraine. The European Union and the United States introduced these measures after Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. According to the statement, there was also a broad consensus among G7 representatives on other key issues, such as the crisis in Syria and on the Korean peninsula.
However, the group failed to reach an agreement on climate change, as US President Donald Trump asked for more time to make a decision on the matter. German Chancellor Angela Merkel underscored the difficulty of climate talks earlier today, calling them "very unsatisfactory."
