Donald Trump, trade worries cloud COP29 climate summit in Baku

The annual United Nations climate summit kicked off Monday with countries readying for tough talks on finance and trade, following a year of weather disasters that have emboldened developing countries in their demands for climate cash.

Delegates gathered in Azerbaijan's capital of Baku are hoping to resolve the summit's top agenda item — a deal for up to $1 trillion in annual climate finance for developing countries.

The summit's negotiating priorities, however, are competing for governments' resources and attention against economic concerns, war in Ukraine and conflict in the Middle East and last week's United States re-election of Donald Trump, a climate-change denier, as president of the world's biggest economy.

COP29 host Azerbaijan will be tasked with keeping countries focused on agreeing to a new global finance target to replace the current $100 billion pledge expiring this year.

The Caspian Sea nation, often proud of being home to the world's first oil wells, will also be under pressure to show progress from last year's COP28 pledge to transition away from fossil fuels.

The country's oil and gas revenues accounted for 35% of its economy in 2023, down from 50% two years prior. The government says these revenues will continue to decline, to roughly 32% of its gross domestic product (GDP) this year and 22% by 2028.

Before the summit talks can even begin, countries will need to agree on an agenda by consensus — including an 11th-hour proposal by China to bring trade disputes into the mix.

The Chinese proposal — made on behalf of the fast-developing "BASIC" group of countries including Brazil, India and South Africa — asked for the summit to address "restrictive trade measures" such as the European Union's carbon border tariffs going into effect in 2026.

Those concerns have been compounded by Trump's campaign promise to impose 20% tariffs on all foreign goods – and 60% on Chinese goods.

China's request showed it was flexing power following Trump's re-election, which signaled the United States' likely disengagement from global climate cooperation, said Li Shuo, director of China Climate Hub at the Asia Society Policy Institute.

Trump has called climate change a hoax and vowed to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement, the global treaty to reduce planet-warming emissions.

The EU, along with current US President Joe Biden's administration, have been pressing China and Gulf oil nations to join the pool of climate finance donor countries.

"If the EU wants to talk about climate finance with China, if it wants to talk NDCs, part of the conversation should be how to resolve our differences on trade and your tariffs," Shuo said.