U.S. treasury chief to brief nations on Trump policies

Mnuchin: New trade deal with China shows success of approach.

Top finance officials from seven advanced economies gathered Friday to hear more about U.S. President Donald Trump’s economic policies on taxation and trade as well as to look for ways to promote growth, combat terrorist financing and stop tax avoidance by major corporations.

The meeting of the Group of 7 finance ministers in the southern Italian seaside town of Bari kicked off Friday with a discussion with economists on how to make growth benefit more people.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin was scheduled to explain Trump’s plans to cut business taxes and regulation, as well as the president’s push for what he considers more balanced trading relationships. He was to meet separately Friday with Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, and then with Japan’s deputy prime minister and finance minister, Taro Aso.

The group is gathering with the global economy showing steady growth. There are concerns that the economy has not reached the levels seen before the global financial crisis, and that labor productivity continues to lag. Increasing output per worker is key to generating growth, and economists say it may be held back by businesses’ reluctance to invest in plants and equipment due to lingering fear from the Great Recession, as well as uncertainty about new regulations.

In theory, corporate tax cuts and deregulation along the lines proposed by Trump could address some of those problems in the world’s largest economy. But the details, and to what extent those policies will be implemented, remain unclear.

During his presidential campaign, Trump repeatedly charged that past administrations had failed to take a tough stand on