On global commerce, the statement says the 20 countries support multilateral trade but acknowledge that the current system doesn’t work and needs fixing, via “the necessary reform of the WTO to improve its functioning.”

On migration, European officials said the U.S. negotiator said too much talk about it would have been a “deal-breaker” for Trump. “There were moments when we thought all was lost,” one European official said, “moments when we spent two hours on one sentence.”

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations. Bolsonaro, who sees himself as South America’s answer to Trump, recently appointed a foreign minister — Ernesto Araújo — who believes that “climate change” is a plot by “cultural Marxists” to stifle the economies of the West and promote the growth of China. Merkel’s spokesman said that during a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, she also voiced concern about rising tensions in the Kerch Strait off Crimea and pushed for “freedom of shipping into the Sea of Azov.”

Last weekend, Russia seized three Ukrainian naval vessels and their crews in an incident escalating a tug-of-war that began in 2014 when Russia annexed Ukraine’s Crimean Peninsula and supported separatist rebels in eastern Ukraine. Germany and France have sought to mediate between Russia and Ukraine, and Merkel spokesman Steffen Seibert said she and Putin agreed that the four countries should hold further talks at the “adviser level.”

Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were due to meet later Saturday after the summit’s close. “If they are able to begin to agree, it would be a good signal that would reduce the impacts on international commerce.”

In closing remarks, summit host and Argentine President Mauricio Macri said the countries had overcome “a number of challenges.”

“We have agreed on a statement that reflects the necessity of revitalizing trade, of revitalizing the WTO.
The 24th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change convenes in Katowice, Poland.