Donald Trump set to clash with rest of G7 on climate change and trade, as summit begins in Italy

There is sharp disagreement between President Trump and the rest of the G7 on a range of key issues, European officials said on Friday, as the summit got underway in the picturesque clifftop town of Taormina in Sicily.

But European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk said there was also some common ground with the US which they hoped to build on during the two-day meeting.

The big points of difference between the new US leader and the rest of the G7 leaders include Mr Trump’s threat to bail out of the 2015 Paris Agreement on combating climate change and his call for trade protectionism.

“This will be one of the most challenging G7 summits in years,” Mr Tusk said at a press conference.  It was “no secret” that the US and the rest of the group had very different positions on climate change and trade.

“As far as climate change is concerned, we will compare the ways we see how the Paris accord should be implemented,” said Mr Juncker. “We think that Paris needs to be implemented entirely.”

There was also disagreement on how to deal with Vladimir Putin and Russian aggression towards Ukraine. “Maybe I’m less optimistic when it comes to President Putin’s plans and intentions,” said Mr Tusk. “Maybe less sentimental. But I think we can find a common position with the US.”

The two European leaders said there was more agreement with Mr Trump on security and the fight against terrorism, which will take centre stage at the summit following the terrorist attack in Manchester on Monday.

Mr Tusk said he had been impressed by the "determination and toughness" shown by Mr Trump when they discussed counter-terrorism on Thursday at the EU in Brussels. "I totally agree with him when he said that the international community, the G7, the US and Europe should be tough, even brutal, vis a vis terrorism and Isis," he said. 

There was also agreement over Brexit and its consequences, the two leaders said. “I was positively surprised by President Trump’s comments on Brexit,” said Mr Tusk. “It is clear that the EU is more united after Brexit than before and that is also his opinion. I tried to convince him that Brexit is important and dramatic but it’s not a threat, and President Trump agreed.”

The G7 leaders gathered for photographs and the inaugural ceremony in Taormina's ancient Greek theatre, which overlooks the Mediterranean and boasts a dramatic backdrop – the smoking summit of Mt Etna, one of Europe’s most active volcanoes.

Analysts said the leaders would be keen to use the summit as a means of getting to know President Trump better and scrutinising his stance on a range of key global issues.

“This is the first opportunity for the international community to force the US administration to show its hand on policy, especially the environment,” said Tristen Naylor, an Oxford University academic who is a member of the G7 Research Group, an independent network of experts who try to hold G7 leaders to account on the pledges they make.

On global trade, the rest of the G7 will want to know “what America First means in substance,” said Prof Naylor.

Analysts said one interesting aspect of the summit is that for four of the leaders – Mrs May, President Trump, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Paolo Gentiloni, the prime minister of Italy – it is their first G7.

The summit in Italy is the last leg of President Trump’s first international foray, a nine-day tour that has taken him to Saudi Arabia, Israel, the Vatican and Brussels.