BADEN-BADEN, GERMANY: In order to halt a bid by US President Donald Trump’s administration to roll back hard-fought pledges on trade and climate, Finance ministers from the world’s biggest economies gathered to submit their concerns over Trump’s “America First” policy.

Representatives from G20 nations have gathered in the picturesque western German spa town of Baden-Baden since Friday for a meeting clouded by scepticism towards climate change.

Trump, whose tough protectionist talk helped win him the presidency, has withdrawn the US from a trans-Pacific free trade pact and attacked export giants China and Germany.

On Thursday, he also revealed a budget plan that would make good on a campaign pledge to drastically scale back environment-related funding.

That stance has grated Washington’s partners, who are trying to persuade US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to renew a long-standing G20 anti-protectionism commitment and uphold an international deal on climate won only after years of painful negotiations.

But talks have so far failed to produce a breakthrough for consensus, and the clock is ticking down to the close of the two-day session when a final statement is due to be published.