Still, as Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin attended an economic summit, the leaders were under pressure to push the negotiations beyond the sticking points that have thus far prevented a deal.
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The two leaders also discussed Ukraine during their meetings at the G20; Obama says he emphasized that US sanctions against Russian Federation wouldn’t be lifted until a peace agreement is implemented in Ukraine.
Russian Federation is acting to support the continued rule of President Bashar Al-Assad, while the USA is supporting and arming rebels dedicated to his overthrow.
“And what I’ll be telling them is that the U.S. has never had a smooth, uncontroversial path to ratifying trade deals, but they eventually get done”, Obama said.
The statement cited the climate change agreement reached in Paris late previous year – and now ratified by the USA and China – urging other G-20 members to complete their respective procedures for ratification soon.
“But given the gaps of trust that exist, that’s a tough negotiation and we haven’t yet closed the gaps in a way that we think would actually work”, he added.
President Obama said they needed the Russians if they’re to make progress in Syria. The issue of Russian hackers being implicated in breaching United States cyberspace was a key issue at the summit.
Mr Putin has denied his government was involved, but cheered the release of the information.
“Of course, we also need to discuss this with the Syrian regime and Iran”, he said.
In talks that Obama described as “blunt” and “businesslike”, the two leaders met after Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Secretary of State John Kerry met for the second time in a week to narrow their differences over the Syrian conflict. American officials blame Russian intelligence for a hack on the Democratic National Committee that resulted in a leak of emails damaging to its presidential nominee, Hillary Clinton.
The Mideast crisis overshadowed President Obama’s main mission at the G20 – to bridge tensions with China whose aggressive military expansion in Asia is rattling nerves. Obama said he would ask his aides to assess whether a “constructive” meeting was still possible in Laos with Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte.
“If an agreement can be reached, we want to do so urgently, because of the humanitarian situation”.
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In a communique issued several hours after the close of the summit, the G20 leaders warned that global growth was weaker than anticipated, with downside risks continuing, and repeated the acknowledgement that monetary policy alone could not create balanced growth.
