U.S., global partners wrestle over trade stance
Top finance officials including new U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin are debating how strong a statement to make in support of free trade at a meeting that will help set the tone for the global economy.
The gathering of finance ministers and central bank heads from the Group of 20 countries has focused on shifting attitudes toward trade, particularly after U.S. President Donald Trump vowed to impose border taxes and rewrite free-trade deals.
Attention has centred on a joint statement that is being prepared for today. Early drafts have dropped an earlier ban on protectionism, but there was no agreement on what to replace it with, or exactly how to put their position into words, said officials who briefed reporters Friday only on condition of anonymity because the talks were ongoing.
Deputies assigned to work out the details ahead of time had to leave the matter for the ministers, who held the first of their sessions late Friday afternoon German time at the twoday meeting in the spa town of Baden-Baden in southern Germany.
The meeting’s host, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble, told reporters that “no one has mentioned protectionism” and that the statement was rather about “the right formulation regarding the openness of the world economy.”
Angel Gurria, secretarygeneral of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), downplayed differences over the exact language.
He told The Associated Press it was “important to create a comfort zone” where leaders could have their first discussions with the new administration, “to make them feel that this is a place where we can talk, we can ventilate the areas where we have common ground and the areas where we may have differences.”
The OECD is one of several international organizations invited to participate in the meeting.