Editor's note: Alessandro Golombiewski Teixeira is a National Thousand Talent Distinguished Professor of Public Policy at the School of Public Policy and Management, Tsinghua University, and a professor of International Business at Schwarzman College in Tsinghua. He is a former special economic adviser to the president of Brazil and former minister of tourism, and minister of development, industry, and foreign trade of Brazil. He was also president of the World Investment Association – WAIPA. The article reflects the author's views, and not necessarily those of CGTN.

The 15th annual G20 summit, a meeting of the world's top twenty largest and fastest growing economies, kicked off in Riyadh over the weekend. The summit, which was founded in 1999 to promote global financial stability and is regarded as a forum for international economic cooperation, is taking place with the backdrop of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression of 1929. The G20 Riyadh summit is also the final appearance for U.S. president Donald Trump on the global stage, following an unsuccessful re-election campaign.

Trump's Performance in the G20

Since President Donald Trump took office in 2017, he has attended three G20 meetings: Germany 2017, Argentina 2018 and Japan 2019.

Analyzing his past performances in G20 meetings, we can conclude that they were marked by more conflict than resolution on global governance and policy; his performances at these meetings have fallen short of what would be expected of Commander in Chief of the largest economy in the world.

In his first appearance on the G20 stage during the 2017 Hamburg Summit, he managed to raise tensions in his very first meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin over interference in his recent U.S. election. He also did not refrain from confronting China on improving relations with the DPRK, pressing President Xi Jinping following the DPRK's intercontinental ballistic missile test to take action.

It was at the same summit that Trump began enacting his chaotic environmental policy, announcing the withdrawal of the United States from the Paris Climate Agreement. By the end of the two-day summit, as the only country to oppose and withdraw from the agreement, it was clear that Trump was standing alone in his opinion on climate issues. The final communique signed by all 20 member nations declared 19 of them reaffirmed their commitment to the Paris climate accord. The only holdout being the U.S.

He also managed to raise questions on increased trade tariffs and criticized the role of the World Trade Organisation (WTO).

In his second G20 appearance in Argentina, Trump continued to criticize the WTO. He pushed at meetings to discuss a reformation of the WTO and expressed his measures to implement aggressive trade policies targeting China and the European Union. During the summit it was clear that trade tensions between the U.S. and China were escalating, however despite this, a 90-day truce to their trade dispute was announced following a dinner between the two presidents.

Russia's involvement in the Ukraine conflict, and seizure of Ukrainian naval vessels and crews were a catalyst of heightened U.S.-Russia tensions, and as cited by Trump a cause of his cancelled summit sideline meeting with Vladimir Putin.

Trump's third G20 summit was in Osaka, Japan in 2019, an event that was overshadowed by the U.S.-China trade tensions.

The talks between the American and Chinese presidents were positive, putting trade negotiations back on track. In addition, some international issues were grappled with, such as Saudi efforts to rehabilitate Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman following his links to the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi; an effort that was aided by Trump, who seemed to look past the grisly circumstances of the murder and purely at the economic opportunity that Saudi Arabia presented for the U.S. However, President Trump's mind was mostly elsewhere at this summit, with democratic nomination debates ongoing back at home, internal politics was top of his agenda.

The final act – an expected farewell

The focus of Riyadh summit's agenda is set to deal with the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic, both its human and economic implications. As Europe experiences a second wave and the Americas suffer from a tsunami of virus cases, the discussion will focus on protecting lives and restoring growth by addressing vulnerabilities that needs to be overcome in order to build the necessary foundations for the future economy. In this regard there is little that President Trump can say or do.

In terms economic and social performance, President Trump's administration achieved a positive amount of growth, however, the growth experienced is far from Making America Great Again. During his first three years in office, President Trump oversaw an annual average growth of 2.5 percent with an additional 6.4 million jobs prior to the pandemic. However, when compared to the last three years under the Obama administration, in which seven million jobs were added, Trump's gains cannot be described as radical.

When you take into account his stark incapacity to manage the COVID-19 pandemic and tackle key issues surrounding climate change and racial injustice, it is difficult to say where Donald Trump has made America Great Again.

President Trump has not only stagnated his own country but has created obstructions in global development, blocking progress at G20 summits where discussions to thrash out world trade rules, climate change reversal measures and migration policies have been taking place.

There is hope that with a President-elect such as Joe Biden, future G20 summits will be more constructive. With a president that has values aligned with the 19 other member state leaders, the route out of the pandemic, our global economic rut, and a climate crisis, will be achieved by uniting on healthcare responses, creating jobs, committing to sustainable development and cooperating to create a financially stable global economy.

What we will see over the Saudi Arabia summit is a cold farewell to a leader that put himself and his ego before his country and the world.

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