G-20 summit reveals an increasingly fragmented world

The G-20 summit's theme this year was "Shaping an Interconnected World". What this past weekend in Hamburg showed, however, was a world that is as fragmented as it is interconnected.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, as the host of this year's summit, stressed that "markets must be kept open" at her final press conference over the weekend. But that was starkly discordant from what the communiqué said. It noted that all parties "recognise the role of legitimate trade defence instruments", which essentially legitimises protectionism and effectively makes room for US President Donald Trump to enact his "America First" trade policies.

On climate change, there was at least broad consensus among most countries on pursuing the "irreversible" Paris accord. But the United States continued to resist, which made it essentially a "G-19 versus the US" effort. But even there, hairline cracks on the joint commitment started to appear: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during the summit that Turkey was leaning towards not ratifying the deal because the US wants out.