Paris awaits Trump's visit
By Kamila Aliyeva
Washington and Paris will try to seek common ground as U.S. President Donald Trump will arrive in Paris for talks with French President Emmanuel Macron on July 12.
Trump's visit to Paris this week, to celebrate 100 years since U.S. troops entered World War One on the side of France and Britain, follows the G20 summit last weekend that put two presidents on different sides of the barricade with regards to trade and climate policy.
Macron and Trump do not have much in common except for their recent victories in presidential elections and professional background.
U.S. and French officials said that this meeting will allow the leaders to focus on those areas where their interests overlap, including resolving the conflict in Syria and countering global terrorism, Reuters reported.
“I would characterize the relationship between the two of them as being very positive,” the administration official said. “There are some issues where we see the world a little bit differently, but many issues where we see the world more or less the same.”
The leaders will most likely avoid the issues that they do not agree upon, such as Trump’s decision to pull the U.S. out of the Paris climate accord. This move sets the world's largest economy apart from almost all other nations on Earth.
The support of the United States, the largest economy in the world, is vital for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, signed in 2015 by 194 countries and ratified by 143.
The agreement aims at keeping the increase in average global temperature at below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, by reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
It is unclear whether the leaders will address thornier issues such as policy toward Iran, possible American tariffs on steel and Russia sanctions legislation in the U.S. Congress that might derail a 9.5 billion euro gas pipe project in which France's Engie SA has a stake.
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Kamila Aliyeva is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @Kami_Aliyeva
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