As Donald Trump arrives in Europe on Wednesday ahead of this weekend's G20 summit, European officials tasked with drafting a leaders' statement have told BuzzFeed News that major disagreements remained with the US over trade, immigration, and climate change.

With 48 hours to go until the gathering of world leaders begins in Hamburg, the Europeans now fear that Trump will announce measures that hit European exporters and escalate trade tensions after the summit – just as he announced the US was pulling out of the Paris climate agreement after his last trip to Europe for the G7 in May.

“It would be extraordinary if they made a decision during the G20. They will probably wait until after the summit like he did with Paris," said one diplomat.

European negotiators say the US is backtracking on trade positions agreed by the president less than six weeks ago at the G7 summit in the Sicilian town of Taormina. It is seeking to redefine stock wording on fighting protectionism, pushing back on long-held positions and fundamental global principles such as the rules-based multilateral trading system, and angling to put bilateral trading arrangements on the same level as an international system anchored on the World Trade Organization.

The president has been threatening to take action on what he views as unfair trade practices for months, often using Twitter to rant against issues ranging from “steel and aluminium dumping” by China to Germany’s “massive” trade surplus. On Wednesday he said: “The United States made some of the worst Trade Deals in history.”

