Justin Trudeau, Angela Merkel meet prior to start of G20 summit in Hamburg

Why does the G20 summit attract so much protest?
Protesters are taking to the streets in Hamburg, Germany ahead of the G20 Summit and it’s not the first time the world leaders’ gathering has attracted demonstrations.

HAMBURG – Prime Minister Justin Trudeau had a private meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel early today just prior to the official start of the G20 summit in Hamburg, Germany.

The two spoke briefly about Trudeau’s children for the cameras before going behind closed doors for a 30-minute private meeting to discuss the Canada-Europe free trade agreement (CETA) and strategies to get as many other leaders as possible on board Merkel’s energy action plan.

READ MORE: Justin Trudeau heads to Europe for G20 meetings along with Angela Merkel, Donald Trump

The working paper includes language on everything from fossil fuel subsidies to requirements for companies to disclose the climate impacts of their investments and business practices.

For Merkel, getting 19 of the G20 leaders to sign the document would be a tremendous political success in her battle with U.S. President Donald Trump.

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READ MORE: Terror, trade, climate to be discussed as G20 summit in Germany gets underway

Tensions between Merkel and Trump have threatened to upend the G20 and Trudeau was expected to play a bit of a middle man role between the two, including pushing Trump as far as possible towards backing some of the language in the energy action plan.

Merkel and Trump had their own private meeting Thursday night which officials said went well largely because it was brief and contained no significant handshake bloopers.