At G20 summit, an urgency to address trade dispute and climate change

ARGENTINA is hosting this week's Group of 20 (G20) summit, and all signs point to plenty of uncertainty in the days ahead as the world's 20 leading industrialised and emerging economies are expected to struggle to see eye-to-eye on two thorny issues on the global agenda - trade and climate change.

Not surprisingly, whether the meeting in the capital Buenos Aires turns out to be successful or not will largely depend on the kind of mood US President Donald Trump is in at that time. Mr Trump is known for being one of the biggest sceptics of climate change and he's adopted scores of protectionist trade policies since he took office. Already, he's withdrawn the US from two landmark deals - the Paris Climate Agreement, and the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact.

All eyes will be on a planned bilateral meeting between Mr Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping - their first face-to-face encounter since Mr Trump imposed tariffs on US$250 billion of Chinese imports. Beijing in turn responded with import tariffs on American goods.